legality of using someone elses expired domain? - GoFuckYourself.com

d-null · 08-29-2007, 12:30 AM

Just curious, could you get in any legal troubles if you buy someone's domain that is expired and build a site on it.

Could someone come back later if you are successful and say that they in effect copywrited the name as a publication title and sue you for your website?

in effect, a domain is similar to a magazine title as far as publishing goes, so if someone registered a domain called, for example "GiantBubbleButts.com" and then let it expire, and you buy the name for $10 and build a million dollar site on it, could they come after you legally saying that the domain was their idea?

how about even more so, if they had a physical paper based magazine that they published 1 issue of that you never even knew about that was titled GiantBubbleButts... would they own you even more?

...or are expired domains open season?

slunk · 08-29-2007, 12:31 AM

errr. if you have the daomin and they dont have a trademark, isnt it yours?

pixiewillow · 08-29-2007, 12:40 AM

I think if a domain expires it's open season on it since it's a rented space... especially since you can't trademark a domain

Sebastian Sands · 08-29-2007, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pixiewillow

I think if a domain expires it's open season on it since it's a rented space... especially since you can't trademark a domain

Oh you can't trademark a domain?

08-29-2007, 12:30 AM	#1
d-null . . . Industry Role: Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: NY Posts: 13,724	legality of using someone elses expired domain? Just curious, could you get in any legal troubles if you buy someone's domain that is expired and build a site on it. Could someone come back later if you are successful and say that they in effect copywrited the name as a publication title and sue you for your website? in effect, a domain is similar to a magazine title as far as publishing goes, so if someone registered a domain called, for example "GiantBubbleButts.com" and then let it expire, and you buy the name for $10 and build a million dollar site on it, could they come after you legally saying that the domain was their idea? how about even more so, if they had a physical paper based magazine that they published 1 issue of that you never even knew about that was titled GiantBubbleButts... would they own you even more? ...or are expired domains open season? __________________ __________________ Looking for a custom TUBE SCRIPT that supports massive traffic, load balancing, billing support, and h264 encoding? Hit up Konrad! Looking for designs for your websites or custom tubesite design? Hit up Zuzana Designs Check out the #1 WordPress SEO Plugin: CyberSEO Suite Last edited by d-null; 08-29-2007 at 12:31 AM..

08-29-2007, 12:31 AM	#2
slunk Registered User Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 10	errr. if you have the daomin and they dont have a trademark, isnt it yours? __________________ i don't post much

08-29-2007, 12:40 AM	#3
pixiewillow Confirmed User Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 252	I think if a domain expires it's open season on it since it's a rented space... especially since you can't trademark a domain