Can I snag this web address from a big film company?

[TheLoneGunman]

Interesting situation.

Was watching a movie and a certain web address played a key role. The name is unusual (ex. XYZZY.com) but it was not the name of a character, the movie, a song, etc. Therefore, I am unsure if it is copywrited.

I noticed that the registration on the site expired 5-May-2001. Therefore, the 30 grace period has passed. Also, there is just a generic "under construction" page there from the registrar.

1. Do you think I can lawfully register the site?

2. Does it have any novelty value? (i.e. Would movie fans or geeks come to the site based on the movie?) If so, I could possibly resell at a profit or use it as a link generation site.

3. Does it have fan value? (i.e. Could I make it more of an homage to the film and hope to get money from fans or sell it to a die hard fan?)

I have left things a bit vague because until I decide to do this I didn't want someone to steal my idea.

[hapoo]

1. yes
2. maybe
3. depends on the movie.

did you know microsoft actually forgot to pay their bill once and some linux user paid it for them :P

[mahalo]

Why not? Worst case senario, you lose a couple of bucks.

If someone there has any problems, tell them that you are fully willing to take them to court, and that you spoke to your lawyers at MOFO prior to purchasing the name and they said that you can legally own the domain name. HOWEVER, you are willing to sell them back the name for a grand, or 2, or more depending on the size of the company. They would probably spend over a lot more in legal fees just to sue you, so they will probably just pay, if they cared enough. All in all, go for it.

BTW, what is a link generation site?

[TheLoneGunman]

Link generation site - perhaps I was using too much shorthand. I mean slap on a bunch of banners and popups that pay you just for displaying them. Probably click-generation site is better term.

I did some more research and while the movie did major business the first weekend, it pretty well died after that. Therefore, I think it has limited appeal.

Reselling for a profit to the copyright holder is the sort of thing ICANN is trying to prevent so I'm not sure it will still work.

If someone wants to help me knock out a quick site, I'm willing to give it a shot. Email me.

[mahalo]

I think that you could resell for a profit, not huge, but decent.

They would rather not go to court since that is really expensive. I am sure that they would rather buy it back for a few grand than spend the tens of thousands it would cost in legal fees, not to mention the bad publicity they would get for being so careless.

From their point of view, it does not make financial sense to have their lawyers contact you. At $500 an hour, it gets really expensive. Plus, they know that they made a mistake, so they will be more inclined topay a little. High costs+bad press+their mistake = at least a few hundred.

Keep me posted on what you decide to do. I am pretty interested. BTW, does the movie have a hot girl in it? If it does, it might be worth putting up a site.

[Markel]

I would think that the value of XYZZY.COM would be for fans of the original Adventure game.