Name of a singer in .com (Legal - Help)

[Humangus]

Hi, I have the name of a famous singer with his firstname and surname in .com (no hyphen).
He owns the .com with hyphen as well as the
.net with and without hyphen.

Are there any legal risks, can I be sued if I want to sell it to a third part? Thanks for your help.

 

[mosilager]

considering that the singer already owns the hyphened .com name as well as the .net name without any hyphens, yes, I can see this as being as a big legal risk, especially if you were to monetize the site, it would mean you're making money off the singer's popularity which is a big no no....

 

[bluearrow]

Yes there is. I something like that happened while ago about domain name related to Madonna.

 

[dna]

You will always be given the opportunity to turn the website over to
the "famous singer" before you are sued. And since you have no way to know if the "famous singer" even cares, go ahead and sell it to a third party.
Domaining is not for wimps.

 

[weblord]

i think you need to give it over, rather than making money on it, is the singer famous btw?

 

[Humangus]

Thanks all for your help and comments, he is from Europe and pretty famous only in that european country. His name also has a different meaning. How would it affect if I developed a site on this other meaning which would not at all be related to him.
Something like the name Prince and developing a site about world princes?

Could this work?

 

[bluearrow]

Thanks all for your help and comments, he is from Europe and pretty famous only in that european country. His name also has a different meaning. How would it affect if I developed a site on this other meaning which would not at all be related to him.
Something like the name Prince and developing a site about world princes?

Could this work?

Well if you develop a site which totally unrelated to him or his profession then you can go ahead build a site on this domain. You won't have a problem. But the point is does it worth ?

 

[bmugford]

Generally as long as you are running a site like this in good faith you are fine. Something like a fan club. However when you start trying to profit off the name, that is what can get you into trouble.

Brad

 

[mdamin76]

Some artist have their own legal advisor monitoring other parties whom site making money from the artist's popularity.

For me, I would stay away from trouble.

 

[gingeman]

As others have said - if you start making more than your hosting costs from the name, there is a reasonable chance that they will come for it. If the 'other' meaning is still valid and you can make a profitable website in an unrelated niche to the singer, this is your best bet.

 

[godinu]

Any time you make a site (or even own a domain, for that matter) with someone else's name or trademark you run the risk of legal trouble. People who try to fight that when the judgement goes before ICANN always lose.

It comes down to this: ICANN looks at the domain name and who it would rightfully belong to -- for instance, let's say Billgates.com. If you snagged this one but your name isn't bill or gates, and you don't have a product called billgates, then a real Bill Gates would have far more logical right to the name than you, and you would lose. Make sense?

As someone above posted, most of the time you will get a chance to turn the name over to the rightful owner before being sued.

 

[bmugford]

ICANN looks for three things.

1.) TM or Name infringement
2.) Do you have any legit reason to own the domain.
3.) Is the domain being used in bad faith.

Brad

Any time you make a site (or even own a domain, for that matter) with someone else's name or trademark you run the risk of legal trouble. People who try to fight that when the judgement goes before ICANN always lose.

It comes down to this: ICANN looks at the domain name and who it would rightfully belong to -- for instance, let's say Billgates.com. If you snagged this one but your name isn't bill or gates, and you don't have a product called billgates, then a real Bill Gates would have far more logical right to the name than you, and you would lose. Make sense?

As someone above posted, most of the time you will get a chance to turn the name over to the rightful owner before being sued.

 

[Humangus]

Thank you all for your comments and feedback.
Many fan sites play on the name and they don´t seem to have any problems, but the general feeling I get from your feedback is that it´s better to keep a low profile.
I will keep it for while and maybe develop a small site on this "other" meaning. We´ll see how it turns out. Thanks again.