Why is it always the celebrity supposedly getting screwed by cybersquatters?! Thanks to one of my favorite movie’s, Office Space, I began to wonder if this situation could be flipped around. For those of you who have not had the pleasure of seeing this cinematic masterpiece, one of the characters is named…Michael Bolton. What if little office geek Michael Bolton wanted to create a blog entitled, www.michaelbolton.com, but the singer Michael Bolton already had the rights to the name? Can the little nobody have a claim? The Grammy winning Michael Bolton would most likely be able to overcome a claim of cybersquatting. His biggest defense would be that he didn’t register the website in bad faith and he was using it for a legitimate purpose. But let’s say Grammy Michael disappears for years or even dies? Should he still be allowed to block someone else from using the same domain name? I thought about this in the context of Elvis. Elvis has been dead for years but his name and music are still very much on the market. His estate should still be allowed to use the King’s name in a domain name. Even if Grammy Michael were to disappear I believe him or his estate would still have a valid claim to the use of the domain name. This leaves office dwelling Michael left with one choice and that is to buy the rights from Grammy Michael. The office Michael needs to be the first in line to register the name in order to use it. Sometimes it just doesn’t pay-off to have a famous name.
A great scene from Office Space!
Samir: No one in this country can ever pronounce my name right. It’s not that hard: Samir Na-gheen-an-a-jar. Nagheenanajar.
Michael Bolton: Yeah, well at least your name isn’t Michael Bolton.
Samir: You know there’s nothing wrong with that name.
Michael Bolton: There was nothing wrong with it… until I was about 12 years old and that no-talent ass clown became famous and started winning Grammys.
Samir: Hmm… well why don’t you just go by Mike instead of Michael?
Michael Bolton: No way. Why should I change? He’s the one who sucks.
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March 6, 2007 at 7:24 pm
marcorandazza
Now hold on… take a look at your ACPA and UDRP notes and reading. A defense to an action under either scheme is that the domain holder has a legitimate right to the domain name.
If your name is Michael Bolton, and you register michaelbolton.com, the famous (or infamous) Michael Bolton (referred to in Office Space as a “no talent ass-clown”
would likely not be able to seize the name.
Do a google search for the mikerowesoft.com case. Mike Rowe registered mikerowesoft.com. Microsoft went after him, but they wound up settling due to the PR debacle that erupted.
anyhow, that is a bit of a digression.
Remember, if someone named “Jessica Bober” (not you though) becomes famous tomorrow, and you beat her to jessicabober.com, you’ll probably be able to hold on to the domain.
October 13, 2007 at 11:47 pm
Neo
Art is truly in the eye of the beholder, all our art is hand made in the US, much of our nude male statues and nude female
statue art is from the Roman and Greek period. The Roman Statue and Greek Statues are very tasteful and elegant. We at Neo-Mfg.com
can not discount this art as it is very well done, just can not see it on display in someone’s home. Art is in the eye of the beholder and we are sure it is just a monument.
Always remember American Freedom to express yourself
December 13, 2007 at 3:39 pm
drug fact
Had some thoughts about this a couple of weeks ago, but..as always i tend to forget things like this.