Ask HN: Legal Issues With Domain Name? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Legal Issues With Domain Name?

3 pointsAgentConundrum6 comments

I was reading the story earlier about the guy who received a C&D from eBay (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1727747), and it got me thinking about a domain I was planning to use for a site I'm (slowly, painfully slowly) building.

I came up with the name while I was listening to a Beatles song, and the song title jumped out at me as being perfect for my site. Well, not the exact song title, of course, but definitely inspired by it.

Now, the site has nothing to do with the Beatles, nor music in general, so I don't think it's a problem, but I don't know enough about the law to determine if this sort of "inspired by / play on the name" sort of name could get me in trouble.

I haven't registered the name yet, mostly because financially I can't throw money at something I may not finish (soon), so I'd prefer not to give the name here.

As an example, let's pretend I'm making a site for apartment hunters, called HelterShelter.com. Would that get me into trouble? This might not be the best example since a normal person would probably make that association, but I don't think they necessarily would with my idea.

I'm in Canada, in case that makes a difference.

Thanks.

I can't give you advice on the legal aspect of it. But, it pains me that you haven't registered the domain name.

I can't speak to your financial situation, but it's $9/year to register a domain. There's a chance your name will get registered while you wait. If your name got registered by someone else, would you just shrug it off, or would it really bother you? If the latter, just get it now.

It sort of bothers me too that I don't own the name, but I've started so many projects that were never completed, and money is so tight right now that I just can't justify it to myself.

That said, I've been seriously considering buying it just as a motivator - i.e. well, I own the name, I guess I'd better not let it go to waste. Now, even that doesn't seem like a good idea, since I'm worried I can't use the name anyway due to the issues I'm asking about in this post.

If your name got registered by someone else, would you just shrug it off, or would it really bother you?

I would shrug it off, mostly. I mean, I've been living with this name for three months (the carpal tunnel started not long after coming up with the idea, hence its incomplete status), so it would be an adjustment, but I'm not married to the name by any means. I just happen to think it's clever.

I don't think I'll lose it though. The name wasn't registered three months ago, it's not registered now, and I can't find any record of it ever having been registered in the past. It seems incredibly unlikely that it would disappear now.

If I get the "all clear" from other responders to this post, I'll buy it. Point taken.

If you have been living with the name for three months then go ahead and buy it. I have missed a couple of really nice domain names in the past by reasoning that they were too obscure for someone else to register.

Namecheap.com currently has a deal for new .com registrations for $5.99 using the coupon code SAVEBIG - that should save you a few bucks if you do decide to register the name.

Namecheap.com currently has a deal for new .com registrations for $5.99 using the coupon code SAVEBIG - that should save you a few bucks if you do decide to register the name.

I'm already too late:

> Sorry, the coupon code you entered 'SAVEBIG' is not valid or has expired or has exceeded usage count. Please verify the code and try again.

You are safe. Although I'm not a lawyer, it's very well established that titles and short phrases are not copyrightable. They can be trademarked, but (except in the case of album titles, perhaps) that would be very hard to argue in regard to a song title.

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html

There are plenty of examples that seem to support this, such as http://www.heyjude.com/ and http://glassonion.com

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