How can I develop fansites for 2 famous actors?

[gorilla_bob]

I currently own 2 domains of very famous actors.

Domain #1
-------------------
One of the domains is of a very famous NON-US CITIZEN asian actor. Let's call him Bruce Lee and my domain brucelee(.)com [Note: This is not the real domain].

How can I develop the site into a fan site whereas as not to potentially later have to hand it over because of TM infringement? I have heard postings that I could get around TM by producing a "parody". Can this be done? ... and what constitutes a "parody".

Domain #2
-------------------
The 2nd domain is a name very simular to a famous actor...Let's call him Robert Dinero and my domain BobDinero(.)com. First of all, is this even a TM infringement? If it is, can I use the same strategy as in the solution to Domain #1?


Let me know your thoughts on this. If you are an attorney, please mention that in your post so that I know to pay more attention to your post.

Many Thanks,

Bob

 

[DNQuest.com]

Are you truly a fan of these celebs or are you just want to find a way to protect yourself while still being able to get the payoff eventually?

 

[gorilla_bob]

Are you truly a fan of these celebs or are you just want to find a way to protect yourself while still being able to get the payoff eventually?

I'm am both a fan and a businessman. However, I do realize that there may be other fans out there that are more fanatical than me.


- Bob

 

[Dave Zan]

Unless you get some form of "consent" from the celebrity in question, putting
up a fan site with some hint of commercial use might piss them off. And that's
if they find out the site first and have both the time and money to make their
point.

 

[gorilla_bob]

My intention was to put up a fan site, develop it, get traffic, and pop in some adsense ads to support it.

I wouldn't be selling anything on the site.

Does that constitute commercial purposes or am I ok?

- Bob

 

[Dave Zan]

Celebrity tolerance varies:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0205071urban1.html

 

[DNQuest.com]

My intention was to put up a fan site, develop it, get traffic, and pop in some adsense ads to support it.

I wouldn't be selling anything on the site.

Does that constitute commercial purposes or am I ok?

- Bob

Just to break this down (along with the previous "I am a businessman" statement too)...

Why is traffic important?
Is it for the Adsense?
That would be smart business right?
Not selling anything on the site is good, but you are selling Adsense, are you not?

I guess I'll address the fantsite aspect now...

Fansites are a labor of love, you don't do it for the recognition, you don't do it for the commercial gain. Any money generated could be considered commercial gain.

So to me, you are looking to protected yourself while trying to get the payoff. And I am 100% in support of fansites, but you don't seem like a 100% fan.

 

[ComputerClub]

I'm am both a fan and a businessman. However, I do realize that there may be other fans out there that are more fanatical than me.

- Bob

Good answer Bob but nonsense.
I see that you try to benefit from famous name(or it is obvious).
Court will not care if you are fan or not (ie lets say i am fan of Google and have Google.net:smilewinkgrin.

You can loose this name but if that famous person is a fan of you then he/she can give you another domain name (ie .net of his/her name) with a clear notification of "Unofficial Fan Site" slogan. Also famous person can share some amount of your revenue(These days famous people can hire very good lawyers).

RobertDinero is very similar to RobertDeniro so find a dog, give it a name RobertDinero, and put its picture to that address.

A case for Turkey, a famous singer has TMed her name. One guy TMed her name for condoms. So u can file RobertDinero condoms ie..

 

[Siteoffers.com]

Would this work?

.. Just get a dba (doing business as) form and business license.. Set up a company for a few bucks like: Bruce Lee Web design and that is your legal entity for doing business and your domain name will mach it - 2 common names + service ..

I used to own the domain of a very popular hbo series and never had problems with them.. I used the fair use copyright act and made it state and credit them and even said the unofficial fan site on my site..

 

[DomainBuyerBroker]

I have owned http://CubaGoodingJr.com for many years. It is a fan site. I have never been contacted by anyone requesting that I give it up. I have fans send me emails from the site. One of these days I will look into a forwarding address for Cuba Gooding Jr.

Either Cuba Gooding Jr doesn't care about this site or he likes it.

 

[ComputerClub]

I have owned http://CubaGoodingJr.com for many years. It is a fan site. I have never been contacted by anyone requesting that I give it up. I have fans send me emails from the site. One of these days I will look into a forwarding address for Cuba Gooding Jr.

Either Cuba Gooding Jr doesn't care about this site or he likes it.

I have checked Cuba Gooding at uspto but seen no records.
I do not know who Cuba Gooding or Cuba Gooding Jr is (or if this is a typo).

This can be one reason that u have not received any letter

 

[DomainBuyerBroker]

I have checked Cuba Gooding at uspto but seen no records.
I do not know who Cuba Gooding or Cuba Gooding Jr is (or if this is a typo).

This can be one reason that u have not received any letter

Not a typo. Cuba Gooding Jr is the "show me the money" guy from Jerry MaQuire and is now doing underwear ads on TV with Michael Jordan.

So, no, I am not particularly proud to have a fan site and it gets very little traffic so I guess there aren't many fans out there anyway.

 

[ComputerClub]

Ok
i have not seen a trademark for Cuba Gooding on TESS at USPTO site.
so you can use it with a great pleasure.

 

[DNQuest.com]

Ok
i have not seen a trademark for Cuba Gooding on TESS at USPTO site.
so you can use it with a great pleasure.

Maybe before you post, you research trademarks and fan sites, you couldn't be any more wrong and the post is very irresponsible. First trademarks DO NOT have to be registered to be afforded protection. Second, there are laws that says what you can or cannot do.

Please, use the search box and type in "trademark", then read for a week, then type in "tm" and read the posts you may have missed. Then type in "celebs" and "fan site" and read some more. You then will come to teh conclusion that I took it easy on you.

 

[randomo]

I own a handful of celeb name .com's (entertainment or sports), acquired through either drops or cheap auctions. My intention was to give the names to the celebs [or their agents]. I have tried to contact them, and either haven't found good contact info for them or else (in 3 cases) got no reply to my email offering the domain for free.

Guess I won't bother picking up any more celeb names!

P.S. Also picked up the .com of a very famous politician & offered it to someone on his staff, who checked with his superiors and then said they would gratefully accept it. But this was months ago, and I'm still waiting for them to be ready to take ownership of the domain. I contacted the staff guy at one point, and he replied, "Things are progressing at the speed of government."

 

[ComputerClub]

Hi DNQuest
where can i understand that Cuba .... is a trademark as a foreigner of US?

I looked at wipo.int and USPTO, no registered name on Cuba Goodings.
This is my 1st time i hear Cuba... searched and saw nothing.

I can use it as a trademark on the class i select ie a site on music.
The name is currently open.

I own a handful of celeb name .com's (entertainment or sports), acquired through either drops or cheap auctions. My intention was to give the names to the celebs [or their agents]. I have tried to contact them, and either haven't found good contact info for them or else (in 3 cases) got no reply to my email offering the domain for free.

Guess I won't bother picking up any more celeb names!

P.S. Also picked up the .com of a very famous politician & offered it to someone on his staff, who checked with his superiors and then said they would gratefully accept it. But this was months ago, and I'm still waiting for them to be ready to take ownership of the domain. I contacted the staff guy at one point, and he replied, "Things are progressing at the speed of government."

Mostly in Europe, such domain name registerers can be classed into parts.
1- They have another TM -with the same name as famous TM- and different class
2- They are normal domain name holders, domain name speculators or else who pick names to sell orginal owner for more money,

1st group can sell their domain names to famous brands and for famous brand it is nearly impossible to take that domain name without legal permission of orginal owner. (ie lycos.com wants lycos.com.tr from a tea producer. Tea producer says they are not going to sell the domain name even for 10million Euros~ 14million USD).

2nd group has no luck or very less luck. They lose the name if they do not have a registered TM. In most cases speculators try to obtain a TM, mostly a trademark in an area where they have no ability or idea to work. (ie one speculator had a famousbankname.com on class heavy metal goods)
It was very easy to take famousbankname.com to banks assets cuz speculator had never made such heavy metal trade before and will not be
making any trade on heavy metal. Court decided to give name to bank.
One 18 years old boy registered a famous supermarket's .com name on a different class. Well lawyers agreed that name cannot be taken by a single court from little speculator boy. Supermarket claimed from more than 30 different courts in where little boy was not able to reach all. He had to hire lawyers but that would cost more than ~200,000$ approximately total and supermarket would be happy to claim to 50+ more courts.So little boy gave his
domain pass w/o losing his family's wealth.
On generic names ie
ie one speculator company had computer.**, email.** etc on a class of forest and farmer products. They said they were going to sell Chrismas trees with email brand and computer as horse shoe brand lol. The famous US speculator now can not use these names even for parking. Cuz via parking they know that they cannot control ad content that can cause TM bad faith. This speculator company had lost more than 4million € (5.6 million USD ) in one Europe country on generic names.

 

[DNQuest.com]

Cuba Gooding Jr. is a very famous actor here in the US. Jsut because someone may not know who he is, he has legal protection as a common law TM. TMs DO NOT have to be registered to be afford protection. In cases of celebrity names, it has been ruled over and over that their name is a TM. I do not want to get into good faith usage, which is a whole otehr subject.

Yes, the name can have TMs in 2 different catagories, Apple Corp (music) and Apple, Inc (computers). It is uasge tha is very important here. You cannot have a name and say it is a different catagory and not use it at all. You must be using it. Trademarks are acquired through commercial usage. There is no magic paperwork you fill in and you have an automatic TM.

 

[DomainBuyerBroker]

Also, trademarks are designed to protect the consumer, not the business who holds the trademark.

 

[DNQuest.com]

Also, trademarks are designed to protect the consumer, not the business who holds the trademark.

Designed to protect both.

 

[ComputerClub]

Cuba Gooding Jr. is a very famous actor here

This changes everything, perhaps he can use his site to sell toilet papers etc...

This time legally no one should prove that the domainname is used for bad faith against Cuba... and TMs such as toilet paper, chrismas trees or horse shoes etc.. should be obtained as soon as possible .
Also in some cases-Especially for US citizens- it can be rejected to take toilet paper TM too cuz toilet paper is so common public product an public knows Cuba.. actor. Only products that needs a special expertise such as heavy metal product that are sold within a specific industry can be taken. A lawyer would say those classes more spesifecally.

For non-US residents taking the TM for various classes would be more easier.