I just wondered where I stood legally in owning a domain name which is the same name of a music artists album. The album is two words and my domain has a hyphen in between those words like this... www.album-name.com Thanks for your time.
As far as copyright goes, there's no copyright in titles, so you're okay on that score. What may be a problem for you is trademark law. I don't think album titles are often trademarked, but you never know. Is your site likely to be confused in any way with their product, such as looking like it's the official site for the album? Also, who was there first? Was the album named and released before or after you registered the domain?
You will be able to put the site up until they take the name from you, that is if they win the arbitration, that is if they even dispute the matter, go ahead and put your site up!
Yea, you might as well put up the site, if they never say anything to you then it looks like you'll be good to go
I registered the album name after it was announced and confirmed, but before the actual album was released. Oh, and the sites been running for a year already so I suppose it looks like i'm ok, its fan site for the red hot chili peppers. I just wanted to clear up the legality of using an album name for my own peace of mind. (just incase) Thanks for the speedy replies!
They can take the name if they want to, but they may leave you alone, most fan clubs are good promotion for the bands so the business managers leave them be in most cases.
Just expect the possibility they can decide to go after you anytime, especially if they perceive your site is commercially exploiting their "brand". For some people, perception is everything. People can argue the other party's doing so is stupid and all that. But if they're able to demonstrate trademark rights to the term/s in question, should they be denied the right to protect them?
Or they just haven't noticed you yet. If I were you I would grab an alternative domain for this site, just in case.