What are legalities of buying dropped celebrity names?

[sunroof]

I recently bought a CelebrityName.com. It is the exact name of an older, well known actor, with no dash between the first and last name. As far as I can tell, it had never been owned by him, and in previous years had just been parked. He is still working and making movies.

Does the fact that the name was dropped mean that his rights to it are somehow diminished? He obviously didn't try very hard to get it, since it was first registered by someone else, who parked it and then didn't renew it.

Any ideas on this one? Thanks.
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[Dave Zan]

Let's put it this way: if the celebrity in question can demonstrate trademark
rights, registered or secondary meaning, to the domain name-sake and sees
how you're using it potentially infringes it (e.g. parking), then he can seek any
and all available means of remedy (e.g. ACPA and UDRP, just google 'em).

It's possible he didn't bother going after whoever registered the domain name
during those times because he was busy making movies and having fun. But
all that could change, you know.

 

[VirtualT]

It's possible he didn't bother going after whoever registered the domain name
during those times because he was busy making movies and having fun. But
all that could change, you know.

especially if its a hollywood celeb who objects to the parked content and counters for damages :dead:

 

[CashCowDomains]

Don't do it.

CCD

 

[sunroof]

Thanks for the comments, they've been helpful.

Just for the heck of it, I checked some older celebrity names like JamesGarner, RobertConrad, PeterFalk, DorisDay and RobertVaughn, all .com's. Only RobertVaughn was the official fan site. The others were parked with advertising and for sale signs, or links to the celebrities' movies. The DorisDay site had a link to her animal protection site.

Maybe the older stars are just not interested or active enough to care about their name on the Internet.

I checked JohnnyDepp.com, and it appears to be owned and operated by someone other than Johnny himself. It is a fan site that only has positive things about the actor.

For the time being, I will keep the name I bought, but just have positive links involving the actor.

 

[olebean]

Dead stars would be easy meat

 

[Gabriel]

Recently happened with xuxa.com. Somebody lost more than $2K after a WIPO decision started just after the domain name was grabbed and acquired.

 

[DNQuest.com]

Dead stars would be easy meat

All deceased celebs rights and TMs are owned by their estate or passed to another. Either way, the deceased can come back to haunt you.