Is it illegal to get a domain if

Is it illegal for me to buy a domain name if its the name of a band? Like I know of this one band that doesn't have the .net domain yet for their band. Could I get in trouble or anything for purchasing this .net?

 

I didn't read anything forbid that.

 

its not illegal, but say if you purchase "blink182.net" they could either pay you money for it, or sue you for copyright?
well maybe not sue you, but sending you aletter sayng you breeching copyright laws.

 

Thats basically what I thought but I thought you couldnt copywrite domain names nor band names?

 

you can copyright brand names, if the band has done this then they could take legal action if there is reason to believe you are using the brand name within a domain name (or any other legal publication). The legal effort and costs would probably void it being worth the hassle for either of you, it depends if you aim to create a site to slander them, or positively publicise them. I doubt they will take legal action against a site that gives them positive publicity

 

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1484357

read that, a similar thing could happen with your domain name!

 

ouch..Tandy! yeah, exactly. You can't use a registerd trade mark, you can't even mention it on a legal publication (such as a website), it is an "owned phrase" and as such, in using it in a publication you're breaking the law.

Tandys example could happen to you..

 

yeah lol. Just to be safe, if you plan to make it an un-official band website, contact them asking for their permission and see what they think of it.
If they allow you, you can go a head, but if you do contact them, give them some good reasons which they should allow you, an example of this is;
- Promotes them
- Build a bigger/wider fan base
- the chance that if people get the real link wrong and end up at your site, its still devoted to same theme (the band)

and never give bad reasons, as that can dout then, decreasing your chance of being able to use the domain.

 

is it generic name ? then its fine. otherwise its a bad idea to reg that name

 

If it's a common word like "apple", you shouldn't have any problems. Otherwise you will be asked to give the domain to original owner of brand. If you refuse, fun stuff will begin and you will find yourself without domain and money at the end.

 

Generic names are less prone to risks. But I guess you can make a fan site and it would not put you in trouble.

 

If fan site contains a brand name, I don't think the risk is not so high

 

Exactly. If the band takes action, you will have to give them the domain. All your work will be lost. Not really worth it in my opinion.

-m