what are the laws/copyright rules on solo girl domain names?
 

just wondering about this but do any rules exist on this subject

for example say your solo girl is Mary Jane and you make maryjane.com

and obviously thousands of mary jane's exist out there

what gives you the right to use this domain and can you lose it to some kind of law?

I'm not a lawyer but I would assume if you have a name with a girls name in it the company that runs/owns her site could take it from you if they wanted. It is kind of like if you own a name with Microsoft in it and Microsoft finds out they can take it from you.

However, there are many programs that will let you use versions of those names if you are using them to promote their sites. I own several domains with solo girl names in them, but I checked with the programs first and they were cool with me doing it as long as I use that domain to push the girl's site.

I have had a few companies say I am using there trade marked name (DBS) they say I need to give it up to them, I tell them I'll put the password under my back doors mat and they can come get it.:winkwink:

kane I meant if you were the first to make the solo girl site
not just buy a domain similar to a solo girl site that already exists

also I don't think you can trademark a name like Mary Jane?
since it is not a name like Microsoft

how can some first last name that thousands of people have be a brand?

how can a computer with the same name a fruit be a brand.

Sure you can, you "Mary Kay" Cosmetics for example.... :2 cents:

Yes, you can trade mark the name Mary Jane. When you do the trademark, you specify the use. If you're using it for something different from the other existing Mary Jane trademarks it should be approved. If it's for porn, be careful how you specify the usage. The trademark office is now rejecting stuff for being "scandelous and obscene".

Try searching some solo girls names http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?...006:4hdk8q.1.1

Yup, you can indeed.

We have successfully trademarked 6 "names" as well as the domain name's

Trademark law is much easier to pursue than copyright.

The name must be a registered trademark... most webmasters don't bother actually registering a trademark on the model but act like they do... besides, registering a domain in the models name isn't the best thing to do, unless you fully intend to outrank them in the SERPs, which isn't a good idea, since they might just get pissed off and go and register the trademark and then UDRP the domain from you.

But if you know your SEO stuff, get in early enough, rank your sites on first page for that keyword, it still can be worth it, even if you have to give up the domain later. Just never go into the game thinking your going to keep it... that would be foolish and costly.

People names are kind of a mixed bag in domains. Some celebs for instance recently have won their domain names in cases that were expected to go the other way. I think in general a celeb would have a better shot than a company because a company is likely going to be tied to a specific use (i.e. Mary Kay with cosmetics, Sara Lee with foods, etc.) and a lot of times you can use the same name, just in a different industry so that you're not conflicting with their use. Celebrities are a different matter and TBH I don't know where the line is these days between a UDRP case that would go their way and one that wouldn't.

One thing to note - you'd be safer the more general you go, and for instance if you had a solo-girl going mainly by their first name, if you can score their first name domain, you'd probably be safe with it pretty much regardless because it's highly unlikely anyone could prove having absolute rights to a first-name domain. Besides a Madonna and a Cher it's probably not going to happen. I happen to have some of these kinds of domains for sale *cough*.

So for example you create a solo girl site with a girl named Mary Jane then down the road a company comes along and starts a solo girl site and they name her Mary Jane. You are wondering if you have the right to the name since you had it first? Is this what you mean?

If that is the question then I'm not 100% sure of the answer. If you owned it first and can prove that you were doing business with it before the existence of this new solo girl they might have a tough time taking it away from you.

there was a guy several years ago who owned a variation of Altavista and used it as business site. He owned it before the search engine ever existed. The search engine tried to take it from him but he won his case since he was able to show he owned it and was using it before they ever existed.

As for trademarking names, as others have said you sure can do that.

Check out the story http://www.nissan.com/Lawsuit/The_Story.php

kane yes thats what i meant

interesting I searched for a lot of pornstar names and did not find many trademarks aside from the big ones like jenna j and tera patrick

i wonder why more companies are not trademarking their pornstars names

That is a very good question. You would think if they are putting money behind these girl's sites and trying to make them big they would at least trademark the name.