Wow .. your first mistake was putting me on the same line as
@jberryhill .. lol .. he's the expert and lawyer specialising on the subject .. I've just read and listened and learned a lot over the last couple of years (and seem to be one of the few domainers who actually paid attention to the VERY generous contributions by
@jberryhill and some of the other real experts on the subject .. lol).
That being said .. it's not entirely black or white. In theory if you register the name of someone using their name in business as a trademark (doesn't have to be as big as Beyonce or Madonna or Richard Branson), then you ARE stepping on their trademark.
HOWEVER .. at a certain point, some marks are less known than others. so you might be forgiven for not knowing about less popular people.
Also .. even if they do have a trademark .. depending on how strong the good will associated with their brand, if it's just a first or last name alone, then there are plenty of legitimate alternate uses, and as long as you aren't selling/advertising music at Madonna.com, then it'll be very hard to prove bad faith ... but it could be seen as bad faith if you pro-actively try to sell Madonna the domain (the strength of her brand outside just entertainment is too much of a grey zone for me to say either way .. I'd wait to see what
@jberryhill says).
I forget what happened in the end with Prince.com .. last time I remember hearing about it was when I had significantly less knowledge on the subject.
That being said .. should a person be allowed to trademark just a first or last name? In theory a business can do it .. so yes .. an individual CAN in theory as well. But their problem really becomes establishing their rights to the single name as a trademark. If you have a common name like Michael, then you need to be able to prove and establish that you are the only entity (person or company) doing business in a certain category as "Michael" ... not impossible .. but extremely unlikely ... which is where the first+last name combination makes much more sense for the countless millions of people who use their names in business.
Even if somebody did establish just their first or last name as their business mark, it would only be for one or few trademark categories. So in some cases it might be technically possible .. but most of the time not.
My general way of thinking of names is more just ethically than legally (I'll leave the actual legal specifics to
@jberryhill .. lol). For me somebody who targets another person's First+Last name is yes indeed (morally) cyber-squatting. With the exception of dead/historical people and politicians (again, that's my moral perspective .. and it's more for "review/critique" type usage as opposed to actually making money pretending to be that politician which most certainly would be wrong)
However .. when it comes to just a first name alone, or just a last name alone .. I personally don't have any problems with that at all. For the most part they are far too generic to ever be considered proprietary. (I personally think they are good investments *IF* you can get them at the right price)
All that said .. it's important to note that there are always exceptions. So just step back and ask yourself .. when you think of this name, is there a specific person or company that comes to mind? If the answer is yes .. then be careful. If you are buying any trademark domain (registered or NOT registered like a full name) with the specific intention of selling it to a specific company or person already using that name/brand, then you are effectively cyber-squatting. Obviously there are plenty of alternate legitimate uses in other trademark categories .. but if only one entity comes to mind, it could be an issue depending on some of the various variables.
That's definitely not correct. There are many subtleties and exceptions when it comes to trademarks ... but the most important thing to note is that a person or company does NOT need to register a trademark to be protected (or to be infringing on an existing trademark whether that other one is registered or not). Individuals and entities are protected from the moment they start using their mark in commerce. Even if they never register it, they still enjoy the same legal protections are a person or company who registered it. The main difference is simply that when you don't register a trademark, it's harder for you to prove ownership of it. But as long as you can prove you've been using it in commerce (relatively easy to prove), then you have the same legal protections.
@kamcreation .. I realise that doesn't completely answer your question 100% .. hopefully
@jberryhill will add his 2 cents and refine/correct my thoughts!