You need to be avoiding any celebrity names that might be construed as a trademark infringement. There is now legislation to protect trademark and service mark owners from a practice called "cybersquatting." Cybersquatting is when a person decides to try to appropriate a domain name that they are using in "bad faith" to profit from later.
The Federal Law is called The AntiCyberSquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) and is also known as the Truth in Domain Names Act. It was passed in 2003. It is now being used to get judgments against domainers who have appropriated names to either ransom to the original owner or profit from despite having no rights to the name.
In order for a domain name to fall under this act, it has to be "identical or confusingly similar" to some other trademark or service mark already copyrighted, it has to be a famous or distinctive mark, and the buyer intended to profit from the domain name.
Another form of trademark violation is the typosquatter. In this case, the domain name may be very similar to another trademark or service mark name except for a misspelling. Both the cybersquatter and typosquatters are being taken to court and judgements are being levied against them.
SOME COURT CASES
If you think that people don't mean serious business, when they are protecting their trademarks, you would be wrong. Take the case of John Zuccarini who reportedly held 5500 domain names when he was first arrested. His mistake was not in domaining, but in taking popular and famous brand names like Cartoon Network and Hot Wheels and then registering typosquats of those domains. To add tot he insult, he then redirected all the people who landed on his sites to pornographic websites.
The ACPA was a direct result of this man's efforts and included a clause that made it illegal to use squatted domain name for the expressed purpose of deceiving people into viewing obscene materials. He went to prison for 2 ½ years and was released in 2005. In addition, his actions falls under a civil suit that has him requiring to pay back many hundreds of thousands of dollars, plus attorney's fees, to the people who have been harmed by his activities. He was the first person to be prosecuted under the ACPA, but he won't be the last.
Other court cases center on a celebrity, like Julia Roberts. She sued the owner, Russell Boyd, after he placed the domain name up for sale, even though the site was dedicated as a fan site. While Julia did get rights to the domain name, it opened a can of worms, as other people may own private names as domain names that aren't necessarily famous until later.
Boyd was ordered to transfer the name to Julia Roberts, but no monies or jail time was awarded. Right now, there are people holding domain names that might be construed as trademark infringement but that doesn't mean they'll necessarily be sued for holding it.
The Federal Law is called The AntiCyberSquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) and is also known as the Truth in Domain Names Act. It was passed in 2003. It is now being used to get judgments against domainers who have appropriated names to either ransom to the original owner or profit from despite having no rights to the name.
In order for a domain name to fall under this act, it has to be "identical or confusingly similar" to some other trademark or service mark already copyrighted, it has to be a famous or distinctive mark, and the buyer intended to profit from the domain name.
Another form of trademark violation is the typosquatter. In this case, the domain name may be very similar to another trademark or service mark name except for a misspelling. Both the cybersquatter and typosquatters are being taken to court and judgements are being levied against them.
SOME COURT CASES
If you think that people don't mean serious business, when they are protecting their trademarks, you would be wrong. Take the case of John Zuccarini who reportedly held 5500 domain names when he was first arrested. His mistake was not in domaining, but in taking popular and famous brand names like Cartoon Network and Hot Wheels and then registering typosquats of those domains. To add tot he insult, he then redirected all the people who landed on his sites to pornographic websites.
The ACPA was a direct result of this man's efforts and included a clause that made it illegal to use squatted domain name for the expressed purpose of deceiving people into viewing obscene materials. He went to prison for 2 ½ years and was released in 2005. In addition, his actions falls under a civil suit that has him requiring to pay back many hundreds of thousands of dollars, plus attorney's fees, to the people who have been harmed by his activities. He was the first person to be prosecuted under the ACPA, but he won't be the last.
Other court cases center on a celebrity, like Julia Roberts. She sued the owner, Russell Boyd, after he placed the domain name up for sale, even though the site was dedicated as a fan site. While Julia did get rights to the domain name, it opened a can of worms, as other people may own private names as domain names that aren't necessarily famous until later.
Boyd was ordered to transfer the name to Julia Roberts, but no monies or jail time was awarded. Right now, there are people holding domain names that might be construed as trademark infringement but that doesn't mean they'll necessarily be sued for holding it.
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