I just started a personal blog this week, the domain is a name of an album that's due to be released in two weeks. It's already been indexed by Google and has received 6,000 hits. Right now it's the last link on the first page of the album's name. Could they start to try and find me if it went any higher? They didn't bother registering any variations of the title (I got the .com but the .net, .org, etc were there to take up).
Run with it while you can. Put some ads on there and make some cash. It'll probably have to come down at some point but in the mean time you can make some money.
Does your site have anything to do with the same industry as the album? If not you're fine. However, if it is, don't listen to jaxrefinance. They could potentially come after you for all revenue you have received. That assuming this is a registered trademark. Visit www.uspto.gov for more information.
It's moving up in Google, it has some references to the album (because of my iLast.fm plugin), but that's about it.
I'm not saying, don't want to be penalized for it, but since you're in England, I'll give you that hint. It's not like a HUGE profiled artist, but you know, they are in the history of Britpop... EDIT: Now I'm 6th on the page, keep going up. . EDIT 2: Also am now appearing when you use the " and " around the name.
Dont worry about it! its their own fault for not taking that domain first... did they even plan on doing so?
Probably not, I wasn't too worried, but the album release is next week, and so, it's like, what happens if my site gets to the top spot? It's still going up and down the first page at the moment.
Of course you can be sued - whether or not they will win depends on a number of factors. Did you pick the name to ride their goodwill (sounds like you did). Is your site trying to, or generating revenue (running advertising, etc)? Does your site mention anything about the band or their album? Lastly, trademarks do not need to be registered in the US. A trademark holder is under no obligation to register any domain name - they can still sue if you are infringing upon their usage. If they "think" it is infringement, you could be looking at a very costly lawsuit.
Yeah, I just thought it was a catchy name, but I have no ads whatsoever on it. The only thing that is of any mention of the band/person is that my Last.fm overall artist list is on there and it links to their page on Last.fm. Other than that, nothing. I do know that song titles are not copyrighted and you can use them freely, but am not sure about album titles (can it be considered like a book title?).
this is kindof interesting topic - i've wondered a few times about it too... its all about how much they need that domain of yours and if you are using it in a way that does not benefit them
Thanks everybody, I appreciate the discussion. I'm just going to wait and see what happens in the next week or so.