question Value & Legality of Regging Common Names

[campout]

1. Is it legal to register, say, JoeMiller.com -- a very common name, with the intent of flipping it for a profit eventually, probably to a Joe Miller? I know you can't do it to famous people's names, but it's unclear whether you can do it with common names.

2. What do you think you could get in the market for a name such as JoeMiller.com?

 

[campout]

*bump*

 

[Rado_Ch]

No need to bump a 6-hour thread, really

1. Its not so much illegal as unlawful. As far as I know there are several states that have state and federal law that protects the names of individuals however in order to apply them the harmed party has to go through the long and costly procedure of filing a lawsuit and try to prove extortion as UDRPs cannot enforce those laws. So while registering common names with the intent of offering them to those people is in bad taste, the possibilities of legal harm are pretty low. Just make sure you don't delve into a name that belongs to a known celebrity.

2. Not a domainer myself but common sense dictates that there isn't much to gain from such names. If I am offered such a name, even if I feel the need of a domain, I could easily register a very close substitute for regfee. And this goes double for common names like JoeMiller.com as I presume you would want to gain a premium price for it. Just by adding an initial I can get the same name for regfee.

Hope that helps