question Can we buy movie names as a domain name?

[Akash Agrawal]

I recently came across a good brandable domain name of .com extension with monthly traffic of 50K+. Later I searched and found that, that is the movie name.

so can we buy that type of domain name?

 

[jberryhill]

Whether something is, or is not, a "movie name" is not significant.

We are usually interested in two questions: (a) what is your motivation for buying the domain name, and (b) does that motivation relate to whether the domain name is a trademark.

First off, the title of a movie is not - merely as being the title of a movie - a trademark. Now, certainly, the title of a movie can be a trademark. If there had been one movie called "Star Wars" and that was all, then it would just have been a movie title. But, the term "Star Wars" is a trademark for a series of movies, several lines of merchandise, etc., such that the market expectation is that anything with "Star Wars" on it is derived from the same authorized source.

Looking at the list of top earning movies here, one can make a number of observations, and I'll pick a few examples to make relevant points:

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/chart/top_lifetime_gross/?area=XWW

Frozen

Obviously "frozen" is an ordinary word. It is also the title of a Disney film, but so what. The mere fact that Disney used it as a movie title did not give them possession of a dictionary word, any more than the fact that they made movies out of pre-existing folk tales that were around long before Disney, such as Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin, etc.. Sure, if you registered those names and used them in some way that suggested an association with Disney there would be a problem. But if "frozen" is merely registered as a dictionary word used for things that are in a solid state at low temperature, then you would not have to let it go.

Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel has no meaning apart from its use to identify media products owned by Marvel Comics (or whatever corporation gobbled up those rights). Obviously, if someone registered this domain name, it would be highly likely they did so because they were motivated by the commercial success which the Captain Marvel comics, movies, toys, etc. have obtained.

Oppenheimer

When I first heard about this movie, I thought it would be a bomb. The movie title, however, is simply the surname of the scientist whom the movie is about. It continues to be used as a surname by lots of folks, including a mutual fund company, etc., but again, merely naming the movie after its subject does not render any use of the name Oppenheimer to be a violation of any "trademark rights" in the movie title.

Harry Potter

Don't even think about it. If you use this one, Warner Brothers will come after you relentlessly. You'll have to change your identity and location to hide from them. Just don't change your gender, or JK Rowling will come after you too.

Independence Day

This is a popular holiday in a lot of countries who celebrate their independence from one thing or another. Again, the fact that it was used as a movie name does not make it the exclusive property of the owners of the movie.

You can go through the list I've linked and make your own conclusions about movies with titles like "Up" versus movies with titles like "Barbie".

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One of my cases involved a movie title. In the 1970's, there was a pornographic movie called "Deep Throat" which attracted a lot of media attention. The current owner of rights in the movie brought a UDRP case against the owner of the domain name, claiming that the use of "Deep Throat" for adult material violated their claimed trademark rights. So, this case addresses the distinction between "when is a movie title a trademark and when is it not":

Arrow Productions, Ltd. v. Caladonia Ltd., Domain Manager
Claim Number: FA0807001213977
https://www.adrforum.com/DomainDecisions/1213977.htm

PARTIES
Complainant is Arrow Productions, Ltd. (“Complainant”), represented by Anna M. Vradenburgh, of Piccionelli & Sarno, California, USA. Respondent is Caladonia Ltd., Domain Manager (“Respondent”), represented by John Berryhill, Pennsylvania, USA.

REGISTRAR AND DISPUTED DOMAIN NAME
The domain name at issue is <deepthroat.com>, registered with Moniker Online Services, Inc.

...

The Panel accepts Complainant’s contention that the motion picture title, “Deep Throat,” has been well known, even famous (or infamous), throughout the world for approximately 35 years. However, motion picture titles are seldom connected in the public mind with the producers or even directors of those movies. This seems to be particularly true of pornographic motion pictures. Certainly, the public may associate some general audience movies with their creators: “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Bambi” and “Fantasia” are associated with The Walt Disney Company; and “Star Wars” with George Lucas. But, it is the opinion of the Panel, that throughout its long and infamous history, “Deep Throat,” like virtually every other pornographic motion picture, has never been associated exclusively with any particular production entity, including Complainant or Complainant’s predecessor-in-interest.

Given that the Panel finds that there was no exclusive association between “Deep Throat,” as a movie title or trademark and Complainant in 1997, the Panel is convinced that Respondent’s predecessor-in-interest most likely registered the name in good faith.

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[MasterOfMyDomains]

You can buy anything you want.
Cutthroat alley is name of a movie, but if you use CutThroatAlley.com 4 domain marketplace you should have no issues

 

[algofox]

Before OTT platforms, many movies used to have .coms, fansites, merchendise sites.