Hi I am new to buying and selling domain. I bought a domain with obama's name thinking of selling it and make a little bit of profit. But I was thinking of developing it myself like make it into a fan site or info site about obama. Would I get any legal problems if I do this? Please advise because I don't wanna get in trouble later on. Thanks in advance!
I think that you wont get in any trouble, especially from the man himself, for supporting his presidency. Though selling it... Eh, maybe? I, personally, do not think Obama has his name copyrighted. Take this post with a grain of salt.
You could always consult a trademark attorney and see what they say. A lot of them do free consultations.
It's not just a matter of copyright or trademark. You also have to worry about the "right of publicity". http://www.chillingeffects.org/domain/notice.cgi?NoticeID=12818 If your site is non-commercial, you will probably be OK.
Thanks guys! @ Nonny - what does non commercial entails? Does that mean I cannot put say adsense codes and the like?
Naming your domain "Obama" wouldn't be any different from making it "Tarzan" or "Jesus Christ Superstar", unless of course Obama secured a patent on that name (which I'm positive is negative). But I have an idea. It would do you much better if you devote your "Obama" site into everything that goes on in the United States Office of the President after Obama assumes office on Jan 20, 2009. I don't think anybody would be against that idea, the President himself might even be happier with it, that would be additional publication for his government, right?
IANAL, but I suspect that advertising would make it commercial. And, again noting that IANAL, I think you are on better ground if you develop it as a fan site than if you try to sell it or make it appear that Obama is endorsing a product or put his picture on something you are selling. You are missing that Obama is a living person, while Tarzan and Jesus are not. Living people do have control over how their names (and images) are used commercially. They don't even have to register a trademark on their names. Here is some of the relevant US law, which focuses on sale of domain names. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode15/usc_sec_15_00001129----000-.html The Wikipedia article points out that "right of publicity" laws in the US are mostly regulated at the state level: An example of this is the lawsuit won by Princess Diana's estate against the Franklin Mint for selling products with her likeness without permission. There are blog posts about more some cases here: http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/search/node/"right+of+publicity" It sounds like the law is still being hashed out in court, which means that there are gray areas - and nothing to stop you from being sued (other than it could make Obama look bad).
If you use someone else's likeness, or name for the purpose of financial gain, you can , and most likely will be sued. Using the President's personal name opens up even more legal trouble. No, Obama will not sue you..he is the President...he doesn't have time for such nonsense. If they don't like what you are doing, some junior Secret Service Agent will call your hosting company on his lunch hour and tell them to shut your site down. There won't be anything that you can do about it. You can lampoon, disagree with, photo chop, and curse the President all you want on your blog and make money doing it, but don't use his name in the domain, or face to advertise anything. I think that you can get away with a lot...just be careful not to offend, or infringe on any copywrites. If you do a blog, here are a couple of nice themes for you: Barack Obama Revolution Theme Obama Theme My Personal Favorite : Probama Theme