I just recently found out about singers or famous people being able to take your domain name away easily. Well I have a star's domain name for about half a year now. i bought it in an auction for $500. Right now I'm not sure what to do? make a fan site and make some kind of revenue from it or just sell it back out. But I don't know exactly how much its worth. I know its definately worth more than $500. In the past 6 months I get about 1500 unique visitors per month. And on alexa its ranked in the 6000 range.
Sell or not to sell? Right now the singer is about to release a new album and i might be able to profit from it somehow.
For another, many people who are actually qualified to opine about domains won't offer an opinion when the domain involves practices they don't engage in or approve of, which includes most practices that could get you sued or served with a WIPO complaint.
That said, I suggest you visit one of the domain name forums. They are a lot more freewheeling and you may find more cohorts in them.
Sell or not to sell? Right now the singer is about to release a new album and i might be able to profit from it somehow.
Domain-squatting is basically trying to profit from someone else's name or branding, so be careful what you put up there. In the event of a dispute, they will consider closely how you intended to use it. Is the name also your own name? If not, a court may look dimly on what you're doing.
As far as the domain goes - I would try to get out of it... If your profiting from someone else's mark (famous name counts) you will lose. It does not matter if it is a fan site.
I would look at selling the name to an actual fan.
Okay if I do sell how much do you think I can sell it for? what is the usual going price for a famous star's domain name?
If you are indeed a fan, and create a fan site out of it, you could probably get more (most stars would rather not go through the bad publicity of taking away a fan site), but it sounds like somebody was already running scared if they dumped it to you for only $500.
All of this is assuming 1500 uniques a month. If you are ranked 6000 in Alexa, then, as Raymond said, something is wrong with your logs. At an Alexa of 6000 (as inaccurate as they are), you are still probably getting 500,000 to 1 million (or much more) unique impressions per month to the site. At that kind of traffic, I would revisit how you negotiate this.
Steve
PS: It would help if you happened to have a son or daughter by the same name. ;)
...but if you registered in bad faith - which it appears you did - I certainly would not try to extort the "star". You can build a fan site or hide yourself behind as much anonymity as possible. But just know when they come knocking you'll be giving it up.
You've gotten a range of suggestions. Either shell out for legal counsel (a lawyer specializing in Intellectual Property would be best) or roll the dice.
Just go to this link. IT ANSWERS EXACTLY your problem.
(He runs a fan site, you will find more free helpful advice than you can get from a "paid" lawyer.)
Please give us some feedback whether and how this was helpful.
ROLLING THE DICE IS ABSOLUTELY A NO
[edited by: tedster at 4:18 am (utc) on Aug. 29, 2004]
[edit reason] fix url [/edit]
