Is name a trademark?

I want to know if the name is a trademark.

For example there is a famous person xyz
then can i have the domain www.xyz.com

Edit: oops, I put this post in a wrong section. I am very sorry mods, Please move it to domain section

 

I think this is a bit of a sketchy area. I mean, who's gonna trademark johnsmith or michaeljones etc? This is just based on my opinion, I have no legal knowledge on this, but it's a good question.

 

but imagine if the person is very famous like bill gates or britney spears
and they haven't trademarked their name yet, and now if i get the domain name www . britneyspears . com or www. billgates. com (assume it, though almost impossible)

and if in future they trademark their name, so they can snatch my domain from me?

 

I think -but I'm not sure- that you can't trademark a REAL name, for the fact that you're not the only one to "own" it (I mean: you may call yourself michael jordan, but I might have the same name!).
Notwithstanding this I think that if you call yourself "michael johnson" you'd betta not to register, for example "www. bill gates . com" for the fact that, if he'd decide to throw away some money in order to sue you, you'll loose as -calling himself bill gates- he may seem to be more rightfull than you to own that domain.
Obviously, if you call yourself "michael johnson" you can register www. michael johnson. com and sleep peacefully, for sure

Mmmh...it seems to me I've been a bit writhed, but I hope you'll understand what I meant...

Cheers

 

You cannot trademark a proper noun I believe, but in the scenario you are talking about, if say you owned britneyspears.com - she would definately have a good chance of being able to take the name from you if she wanted to, unless your own name was Britney Spears too.

 

as far as i know
you can trade mark nouns whatever it is but you cant go for adjecives

means you have have domain like "assignment.com" but not "perfect.com"

i have read it somewhere

 

They CAN trademark personal names. A lot of Nascar drivers have trademarked their names.

 

imo you will be walking on thin ice by registering a domain of the name of a famous person [especially if it is very unique] and he wants the domain or does not want others to use it.

 

Yes it is a trademark issue if the person is famous, as that name IS thier "trademark"

IMO - if they ever want the domain from you, ask them to make an offer. Most will give you more then reg fee for it, as they don't want to go to court and spend thousands trying to reclaim it.

If you are making a fansite out of it, make sure it's GOOD publicity for them, not bad ie sex tapes... most celebs hate that kind of website.

Also, don't park it, iv heard that's bad.... no experience in that though.

 

There is a legal link about this.
http://www.ivanhoffman.com/personalnames.html

 

depends what ur site says about that person also is it + or - for the person

 

Yes ... very true ... but there are certain conditions to it ....

 

alot of famous people trademark their names. such as michael jackson for an example. He owns the rights to his name

but if its a unique name such as Seyeko, (nickname i used alot) then you can trademark it, but it'd be hard to trademark Steve or john haha.

 

true i agree is ^

 

well, I guess if your name is att, mci, or sprint, that would make it a trademark... just kidding

 

It is a violation of law unless of course, you have the same name

 

If people are still asking about this, the link ikunal posted gave a few clues: