What would you do with a famous actors domain?

Send them some money. They can't complain then. Can they?

ilovenaps said:

So say you had some famous actor dot com domains.

Many of these have been lost on cybersquatting accusations and rightfully so in some cases, but here is what I think I'd do (am doing?)

Fan site, with adsense and amazon. only promote whatever the actor is promoting, nothing to edgy racy or in violation of copyrights.

Is that legal? Ride it till it falls off? Got any better ideas?

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I guess I only buy them because they haven't.......who the fuck wins an emmy and doesn't go hey i should get one of those Dot Com thingys........I'd fire all my "people" for not doing it for me.

And its a small portion of my internet money generating activities. Like super tiny. But still money is money ? Why not having it making some while I'm doing whatever I want to?

Options:

1) Domain proxy/offshore server, and ignore C & D's, as above suggested. If the star has done any naughty stuff, even suggest that the celebrity should be further exposed, and play up the hypocrisy issues (the classic 'Alyssa Milano' scenario---if the girl has floated racy pix of herself for distribution worldwide, why should she expect to be treated like a choir girl?).

2) Sell it on eBay, let somebody else unaware of the legalese deal with potential complications. Or, keep the domain but sell 'content space' where writers can submit related articles to it with a link to THEIR monetized sites.

3) Wiki it up and set it up as an ad-free authority/hub content site, BUT with text links embedded throughout the content outlinking to an ad-heavy 'the REST of the story' mirror site. Go to Wikipedia itself and edit the entry on the celebrity with a link to your authority/hub site.

4) Shine a lantern on it---go the controversy marketing route and pack it to the gills with ads and attack content ('the shocking TRUTH about Celebrity X' articles). Send out online and offline press releases announcing the site, including to all the tabloids, and to the celeb's agent. When the C & D letter comes, send out another batch of press releases about how 'the truth is being suppressed' and announce a second batch of shock content has just been added. Get ten tons of quick traffic, a small mountain of commissions, THEN retire the site.

Uptownbulker said:

I would leave it the Hell alone as the intellectual property rights of actors, etc, are very well and very strictly controlled by California law; even the dead ones.

They will come after you like sharks circling a drowning man but it is up to you.

Do whatever you think that your bank account can defend.

My $.02.

Uptown.

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Really?

How can they consider their name solely their property? If they come and claim the domain name as rightfully theirs because of the name, couldn't the defense say there are several other people with this name so it needs to be equally divided between everyone?

OK my 2 cents...sedo could refuse the domain... I've got a REAL cool Obama site...over 40 type ins a day...been parked at sedo for months...they just sent me a letter saying "against our Terms with the upcoming election BLA BLA" , should I sell? OR hang on & moneterize...he might just make it to the no.1 position in the world....

I'd say run with it as most celebs dont mind the plethora of fan sites out there as it build profile.. just make sure the content is positive and builds the celeb up and is in alignment with what they seem to stand for.. try do a little research etc and if they support breat cancer or whatever mention that, basically make it a glowing testimonial of the celeb and they will be sweet as ur pretty much doing the job of an additional publicist..

just make sure you include discalimers saying how this is just a fan site and is not run or affiliated by the actual celeb... if push comes to shove the celebs agent might contact you with either a cease & desist order or want to know more info about revenueetc to charge you a licensing fee.. and you migh teven get to speak to the celeb and have them become a contributor to the site if it really takes off..

sounds all good in the hood to me!

ilovenaps said:

So say you had some famous actor dot com domains.

Many of these have been lost on cybersquatting accusations and rightfully so in some cases, but here is what I think I'd do (am doing?)

Fan site, with adsense and amazon. only promote whatever the actor is promoting, nothing to edgy racy or in violation of copyrights.

Is that legal? Ride it till it falls off? Got any better ideas?

Click to expand...

Yeah thats no bueno... while I worked at en0m I sat on phone arguing with Britney Spears lawyer. Needless to say this guy also handled alot of other famous folks domain names and shit like that. Though I can tell you that en0m typically doesn't or didn't do jack shit for him except direct him to the hosting provider.

Ok so I know just about nothing about actors I can't even play 7 degrees of Kevin Bacon so could someone who's more into the actor/movie thing show me a decent fan site? I'll prob. use joomla or WP.

thanks in advance! and thanks to everyone who's participated in this thread I hope it helps other people who get a thrill out of checking for the dot comzzzzzzz.

hustlingrind said:

Contact them and ask if they'd like to meet up and buy it from you for a cheap price or free, Get your foot in the door for some nice parties. Make friends in high places, not enemies.

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Bad idea. That's been seen as precedent in a LOT of cases for pointing the domain squatting/profiteering finger and getting the domain handed over to the complainer.

breadfan is correct. One of the three things that a copyright holder needs to show in order to take your domain is that it was registered and being used in bad faith. Trying to sell it to the copyright holder is exactly that.

The other two are that the domain is identical or confusingly similar to the trademark and you have no rights or legitimate interests to the domain.

How can they consider their name solely their property? If they come and claim the domain name as rightfully theirs because of the name, couldn't the defense say there are several other people with this name so it needs to be equally divided between everyone

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If the person who owns it has the same name as the celebrity, the celebrity won't be able to get the domain. But Bob Smith has no rights to the name Britney Spears and couldn't make that argument to defend a claim against britneyspears.info.

seems like a mess that has not and will never be solved

I just got another one......

at least this time she's fairly young and hot....

I'm going to try a different method with each domain and see what happens.

You should make a forum about them so all the fans start talking!
Go and find a lookalike of them and book them jobs via your site
and take 20% for every job irate:

Well, keywords in a domain are great.
Make a legit fansite.
When they search for the actor, it will be #1 because of the keywords.