

Indie artist trying to claim his domain name - bwooceli
http://frontalot.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?p=48749#48749

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awolf
Does anyone have any experience attempting to claim a domain through
arbitration?

I've been selling TapTyping on the App Store since the iPad came out almost 2
years ago but have been unable to negotiate with the individual who currently
owns TapTyping.com. It was only recently that I applied for a trademark on
"TapTyping" so it might still be a year before it is awarded.

The current owner has yet to do anything with the domain. It is just Godaddy
parked. I've made the argument to him that at this point anything he did with
the domain that was typing related would probably infringe on our future
trademark but he simply replies that he "is not ready to sell the domain at
this time".

I assume I am S.O.L. until my trademark goes through, but even once the
trademark clears is this an open and shut low risk case as far as arbitration
is concerned? Is it likely to be costly to claim domains in this fashion?

~~~
pmr_
I don't know much about copyright but infringing on something that is not yet
in existence and being punished for it in retrospect seems just plain wrong to
me. Is that even possible?

What should hinder him from getting the trademark himself? He apparently had
the domain long before you had the intention to trademark something so he it
would seem legitimate to award it to him.

~~~
dangrossman
To get and defend a trademark you need to actually use the mark in commerce.
Trademark exists for a specific purpose -- to avoid confusion as to the source
of a product or service -- not just to sell off words and images for
registration fees.

~~~
pmr_
That makes perfect sense. Does having a domain with a list of links to related
pages and ads constitute 'using a mark in commerce'?

~~~
larrys
Depends on the panelists and the actual page. There are udrp cases where a
page of links and a search box has shown use so the claim is denied. But I've
also seen cases where this hasn't happened.

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rhplus
Is this really something worth fighting for at this stage in his music career,
especially if he's having to pay lawyers? There would be far more value in him
cultivating a social media presence (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Last.fm,
MySpace, Vimeo, etc) than worrying about getting his coveted dot-com.

Having the perfect domain name just doesn't really matter that much for brand
building any more, especially for "personalities". Musicians engage fans
through Twitter, Facebook, whatever, and if you're stuck with
mcfrontalotmusic.com or officialmcfrontalot.com or mcfrontalot.tv or
mcfrontalot.dj... don't worry about it. Be consistent, build the fan base,
link to your official site often and let the search engines figure it out.
When he gets the big record deal, let the record company lawyers jump after
the perfect domain.

~~~
udp
_> if you're stuck with mcfrontalotmusic.com or officialmcfrontalot.com or
mcfrontalot.tv or mcfrontalot.dj... don't worry about it._

It's not even that bad, he has frontalot.com. I don't really know why he's
bothering...

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blauwbilgorgel
204.138.26.200 is a problem IP.

Registrations like:

fasebook.com dailymtoion.com

Show with <http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/web-sites-on-web-server/>

over 300.000 domains according to domaintools.com .

When searching for copy on their landing pages:

[https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Try+Searching+the+Interne...](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Try+Searching+the+Internet+on+These+Relevant+Key+Words%22)

About 86.600 results for me.

Some pretty nasty spammy stuff in there. For example a result from the Google
index that randomly redirects users to another domain, perhaps in violation of
the guidelines.

saintrosehospital.com/ (original is strosehospital.org/)

to

medicalinformatoin.biz/ (for me)

[http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=%22try%20sear...](http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=%22try%20searching%20the%20internet%20on%20these%20relevant%20key%20words%20%22&source=web&cd=54&ved=0CEAQFjADODI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsaintrosehospital.com%2F&ei=TLART7mGL4fG-
Qb65bnXAg&usg=AFQjCNGLa50g530-ID0oy02ag54rNZKCdA&cad=rja)

And various misspellings of schools, universities and "healthcare" websites
like these.

Registering a trademarked domain name is stupid, but squatting on hospital
websites is extremely low.

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hmottestad
A guy trying to fight for the right to the domain name equivalent of his
artist stage name.

It's just simply a call for help since he doesn't seem to know how to figure
things out and he doesn't want to pay anyone to help him.

And it doesn't seem like he's tried to contact the owners of the domain. Which
he can do here: <http://rapmusik.net/?tmp=domain_inquiry_form>

~~~
stfu
Classic personal-army request. "Hey guys, I don't want to pay money and don't
want to learn / invest the time myself to figure it out". But then of cause he
has "fans" making this apparently an appropriate form of communication. They
might even like the fact that he is asking them for "help".

~~~
nevinera
Come on now. He's asking for help _on his own forums_.

If he posted such a request in some general forum you could shower him with
derision for treating hn/reddit/4chan/sa as his 'personal army', since
apparently you think insulting people who need help is more fun than ignoring
them.

But it makes no sense in this context.

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nhangen
I'm still not sure I believe anyone has a right to a domain name, regardless
of who's name it uses.

However, I put myself in his shoes and I can see how it would be frustrating
at best. This is a remnant of the 'time before the Internet' and will
eventually be solved when it becomes impossible to have created a name before
the Internet existed. How can we best serve these cases without harming smart
domain entrepreneurs in the future?

~~~
feralchimp
I'm pretty sure I don't believe in either a) domain name rights as an
extension of trademark protection, or b) the protection-worthiness of "domain
entrepreneurs."

It's a race for which the correct moves (as others here have noted) are either
to win (by luck or cash) or not to play (by choice).

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bwooceli
This was interesting to me just because its someone not in a technical field
trying to navigate these waters. He is already taking the right steps with a
lawyer but obviously didn't realize how hard it was going to be. He's been
around for a long time and has finally achieved enough success to feel
comfortable enough spending money on the lawyer to take something off his long
term wish list.

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jmcnevin
For those who aren't familiar with MC Frontalot, might I suggest you check out
"It is Pitch Dark," his rap about Zork.

<http://youtu.be/4nigRT2KmCE>

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zerostar07
First why would he want a domain that is now linked to spam/scams ?

Second, what is his legal claim, has he trademarked his commercial name?

