Your opinion on having a celeb name in a domain name

ItsYoBuddy

ItsYoBuddy

Rise And Grind!
Apr 6, 2008
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Philly
First off, I know 99% of you aren't lawyers. I will be taking your advice as gay webmasters

I was thinking about making a domain name similar to this: www.PleaseHelpMe[Celeb Name Here].com. Something along those lines, you get the idea.

It's a musician, so I would be linking their album to itunes with no affiliate links. I won't be getting paid a penny from this site and don't plan on it. If there is going to be any ads, it will be going towards the persons merchandise/albums with no affiliate links.

I'm basically going to have one paragraph directed towards the musician. I don't want to get in specifics but thats basically what I want to do.

Do you think there will be any harm in this even though I will not be making a dime and I won't be bashing the musician?
 


Have you considered asking the musician himself? If your motives are lawful and good(as you claim)... what's your ulterior motive in promoting this musician for free?
 
you can use any name/brand/company/trademark in any domain you want. Just the fact you're asking suggests you may want to incorporate some 'distance' from yourself.
 
dmnEPC said:
you can use any name/brand/company/trademark in any domain you want. Just the fact you're asking suggests you may want to incorporate some 'distance' from yourself.
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But you can also get sued, and defending any trademark lawsuit can run you 10's of thousands of dollars long before it even hits trial. So OP, take that into consideration.
 
I owned a domain with "Snooki" in it for around 2 years and was even #2 for the term for a while (pre pregnancy Snooki).

Never had any issues from her or her legal team.
 
robbie222 said:
But you can also get sued, and defending any trademark lawsuit can run you 10's of thousands of dollars long before it even hits trial. So OP, take that into consideration.
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this.

OP, really depends on whether the trademark owner wants to sue or not and how big their $ pockets are. several years ago I used a domain that included a famous trademark name within it. (It was a product/brand name in the videogame niche). After several months of usage, their lawyers contacted me and was pressured into relinquenching the domain name. On the otherhand, if your musician is minor and isnt backed by a big music/record label with big $...you might be left alone. Still, why are you doing this if it aint for the $?
 
sennin436 said:
this.

OP, really depends on whether the trademark owner wants to sue or not and how big their $ pockets are. several years ago I used a domain that included a famous trademark name within it. (It was a product/brand name in the videogame niche). After several months of usage, their lawyers contacted me and was pressured into relinquenching the domain name. On the otherhand, if your musician is minor and isnt backed by a big music/record label with big $...you might be left alone. Still, why are you doing this if it aint for the $?
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You also do not need a TM holder with deep pockets. All you need is a money hungry lawyer willing to work on a contingency fee basis. Before you know it you have a case filed against you and you're forking out 5k right out the gate for a retainer, and those lawyers eat through those fucking things in a few hours.

Like I said, you could end up in court paying a settlement and some hefty legal bills. Shit, just look at the attorney’s fees and costs ($326,129.11) in the Grunin fraud case.

IMO sounds like you should invest your time and money into something else.
 
Totally depends on the entity you're using the name of.

I got into an IP skirmish that lasted about 3 years (mostly letters and negotiating) and it never went to court - it costs both sides a SHIT TON of money to actually litigate in court - so it is a total last resort.

In the end, I ended up changing the domain, but I got them to work with me to market the new domain through their brand (long story).

The odds of something actually going to court are extremely slim, unless you are blatantly in the wrong and are doing something malicious.
 
PleaseHelpMe[CelebName].com? What are you trying to make him, a beggar? You're gonna get loved tenderly if they ever find out the site.
 
Have used a B list celeb domain in the past, it worked for the intended purpose. Did receive a C&D. Stopped using said domain shortly thereafter, no drama ensued.
 
robbie222 said:
But you can also get sued, and defending any trademark lawsuit can run you 10's of thousands of dollars long before it even hits trial. So OP, take that into consideration.
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Getting sued is a rarity though. There are only a small number of notable high profile cases where a cybersquatter has been sued for holding celebrity domains (typically uncooperative) where a monetary penalty has been issued.

With UDRP or WIPO filings as cheap and easy mechanisms for taking domains, there's no need to enter into a lengthy and expensive legal battle. They almost always find for the celebrity, so if a C&D doesn't work, make your filing, wait 30 days, and receive your domains.

As for the OP, I agree with the previous poster who said, why don't you just ask the artist in question?
 
Fatbat said:
Getting sued is a rarity though. There are only a small number of notable high profile cases where a cybersquatter has been sued for holding celebrity domains (typically uncooperative) where a monetary penalty has been issued.

With UDRP or WIPO filings as cheap and easy mechanisms for taking domains, there's no need to enter into a lengthy and expensive legal battle. They almost always find for the celebrity, so if a C&D doesn't work, make your filing, wait 30 days, and receive your domains.

As for the OP, I agree with the previous poster who said, why don't you just ask the artist in question?
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This, don't know why everyone's getting so worked up over a non-malicious trademark infringement that won't earn a penny. If celeb's legal team has a problem with it, they send a C&D, you hand the domain over, no big deal. If you were profiting from it, they might want the money you made, but you're not, so I don't see the issue. Ask them if you want to be secure in the knowledge that they won't take it from you, if you don't care if they do, then no need to even bother with that.
 
"making money off it" is not a requirement for you to end up in court for infringement. It seems like a "some-risk:no-reward" play no matter what, as other posters have already pointed out. When you start using someone's name/brand because of the fame attached to that brand, without authority, you are asking for trouble. Maybe they do nothing, maybe they just send a C&D, or maybe their legal counsel really comes after you hard, either way, there seems to be no upside in you doing this.
 
This gif sums up my decision making process when deciding on using a celeb's name in my domain name.

shark-dancing.gif
 
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