Celebrity domain name

[Floob]

Hi,

I have a celebrity domain, and was wondering if challenged I would have to transfer it?

- Its a firstnamelastname.co.uk
- Presents the celeb in a good light
- Has no adverts
- Clearly unofficial
- Has a couple of affiliate links
- Celeb has not trademarked their name. Yet.

Thanks for any suggestions

Floob.

[AlexDawson]

I am not a lawyer but I doubt you would have too, when it comes to names of people you can't prevent other people giving their kids the same name, as a result I would highly doubt a celebrity could trademark their own name (and be able to uphold the mark), as far as I am aware it would be a case of first come first serve on the name registration (just as long as your not trying to violate a law using the site or pretend you are them).

[Dave Zan]

Originally Posted by Floob

Celeb has not trademarked their name. Yet.

That's the question there. Be aware that trademark rights arise from usage,
not registration.

If the celebrity has used his/her name to make money, then s/he has a mark.
It then depends if they see what you're doing as an issue and do something
about it.

[SiberForum]

Originally Posted by Dave Zan

That's the question there. Be aware that trademark rights arise from usage,
not registration.

If the celebrity has used his/her name to make money, then s/he has a mark.
It then depends if they see what you're doing as an issue and do something
about it.

The question might be : what was the first domain name or trade mark...

[AlexDawson]

Dave, there's a slight difference between an unregistered and registered trademark (in terms of protection) however it should be pointed out that no person could technically claim ownership over their name (in the sense of the exclusive rights to it), unless of course you can guarantee you were the first and only person to make use of that mark for the purposes of representing an individual. I'm not a lawyer but I very much doubt it would hold up in court, otherwise you could trademark the name John Smith and demand that every subsequent person named as such would pay you a royalty.

[Dave Zan]

Originally Posted by AlexDawson

Dave, there's a slight difference between an unregistered and registered trademark (in terms of protection) however it should be pointed out that no person could technically claim ownership over their name (in the sense of the exclusive rights to it), unless of course you can guarantee you were the first and only person to make use of that mark for the purposes of representing an individual. I'm not a lawyer but I very much doubt it would hold up in court, otherwise you could trademark the name John Smith and demand that every subsequent person named as such would pay you a royalty.

Indeed there's a difference. And any John Smith ideally can dispute it.

The next question, then, is does that John Smith have any enforceable claim.
And I agree that a trademark doesn't grant some kind of absolute, exclusive
claim over any and all other uses, although uniquely famous ones have much
greater protection.

But...we're talking about a personal name here that's supposedly a celebrity.
OTOH, the OP has something going for him since he's supposedly not using it
in a commercial manner either.