[sparkplugs]

I'm not sure if I have posted this in the right section, but anyway, here is something I have just been thinking about as regards to YouTube usernames.

Surprisingly, there are a lot of username combinations which could appear extremely valuable to major film or record companies etc which are still unused. Some combinations I have registered for myself, and there have been some seemingly obvious VEVO username combinations still not being used, which I have also registered. For example, Warner Bros. has a company YouTube account, but they never registered "WarnerBrosVEVO", so I went and registered that username!

I wonder what would happen if one day Warner Bros. and/or VEVO did in fact want to use that username but now find that they can't?

Would they 1. Accept that YouTube usernames are on a first come, first served basis, 2. Send a message to my inbox asking me to give up the username or 3. Send a message to my inbox threatening to sue me for infringement?

[whoever,hey]

What is VEVO?

[fmradiotuner1]

Originally Posted by whoever,hey

What is VEVO?

Its a music video service.

[subversive]

if you are thinking that they will offer you money for it, think again. I remember, maybe somebody can provide more details, when Marks & Spencer took a guy to court for holding a domain name mands.com, the guy lost.

madonna took a guy to court, etc.

precedents have been set.

Those days have gone when domain names like business.com were bought for £5million, yes £5million, I am sure there are other expensive names.

[whoever,hey]

Originally Posted by subversive

if you are thinking that they will offer you money for it, think again. I remember, maybe somebody can provide more details, when Marks & Spencer took a guy to court for holding a domain name mands.com, the guy lost.

madonna took a guy to court, etc.

precedents have been set.

Those days have gone when domain names like business.com were bought for £5million, yes £5million, I am sure there are other expensive names.

I've just been to www.business.com and dont even get what the site is.

[far2cool]

Originally Posted by subversive

if you are thinking that they will offer you money for it, think again. I remember, maybe somebody can provide more details, when Marks & Spencer took a guy to court for holding a domain name mands.com, the guy lost.

madonna took a guy to court, etc.

precedents have been set.

Those days have gone when domain names like business.com were bought for £5million, yes £5million, I am sure there are other expensive names.

When Noel Gallagher left Oasis and started his solo career, someone from spain owned the domain 'noelgallagher.com' - so Noel flew him to London, met him in person and managed to charm him to give over the domain name

[far2cool]

Originally Posted by subversive

Those days have gone when domain names like business.com were bought for £5million, yes £5million, I am sure there are other expensive names.

There's no point in having a fancy domain name as people mainly use google to find sites,

like B&Q have the domain diy.com which probably cost them a fortune, but no one looking for their site will even notice, and I doubt it get them many extra visitors who actually make purchases

[subversive]

Originally Posted by far2cool

There's no point in having a fancy domain name as people mainly use google to find sites,

like B&Q have the domain diy.com which probably cost them a fortune, but no one looking for their site will even notice, and I doubt it get them many extra visitors who actually make purchases

Originally Posted by whoever,hey

I've just been to www.business.com and dont even get what the site is.

Originally Posted by far2cool

When Noel Gallagher left Oasis and started his solo career, someone from spain owned the domain 'noelgallagher.com' - so Noel flew him to London, met him in person and managed to charm him to give over the domain name

its all about brand awareness, creating an brand identity.

celebrities will obviously go for their own names as they themselves are the product/brand, etc But for some businesses, they need to have something which will be easily remembered, i.e. diy.com, even though b&q is, but when you type in it, bandq, it doesn't look good as you can't get the "&" sign.

now companies are more shrewd, they will make sure that their brand is protected from present and future threats.

microsoft tried to copyright the word "windows" world wide, so that businesses can't use the word "windows".

Dell were suing a guy because he had set up a website with a domain name including his surname name dell in it.

Dell claimed they owned the copyright and it was trademarked. I think the guy lost as he had no money to fight them.

funny world we live in....I like India and china. India ordered a sample of around 100 AK47s from russia, they reverse engineered them, copied it 100% and produced over hundreds of thousands which they gave to the army. Russia tried taking them to court, but India said they are for Internal army use inside India and are not copys of Russias ak47.



long story short - don't give up your day job and Good Luck

[bspace]

Originally Posted by whoever,hey

I've just been to www.business.com and dont even get what the site is.

<meta name="description" content="Online purchasing resource for businesses of all sizes. Find, Compare &amp; Research products and services you need to run and grow your business. Over 50,000+ business guides, price comparison tools, whitepapers &amp; more">

[Apprentice 2 SA]

Originally Posted by sparkplugs

I'm not sure if I have posted this in the right section, but anyway, here is something I have just been thinking about as regards to YouTube usernames.

Surprisingly, there are a lot of username combinations which could appear extremely valuable to major film or record companies etc which are still unused. Some combinations I have registered for myself, and there have been some seemingly obvious VEVO username combinations still not being used, which I have also registered. For example, Warner Bros. has a company YouTube account, but they never registered "WarnerBrosVEVO", so I went and registered that username!

I wonder what would happen if one day Warner Bros. and/or VEVO did in fact want to use that username but now find that they can't?

Would they 1. Accept that YouTube usernames are on a first come, first served basis, 2. Send a message to my inbox asking me to give up the username or 3. Send a message to my inbox threatening to sue me for infringement?

The answer is to use it for something related to WarnerBrosVEVO. Legally - without using copyright material.

[sparkplugs]

Originally Posted by subversive

if you are thinking that they will offer you money for it, think again.

Oh no, I'm not trying to get money from it, I'm just wondering if what somebody once told me is correct with YouTube usernames - if somebody other than a company registers a username on YouTube before the official company does, and the account is used as a regular user account on YouTube, same as any normal YouTube user account, the company doesn't have a leg to stand on because they should have got the YouTube username early on.

[s2k]

Originally Posted by sparkplugs

Oh no, I'm not trying to get money from it, I'm just wondering if what somebody once told me is correct with YouTube usernames - if somebody other than a company registers a username on YouTube before the official company does, and the account is used as a regular user account on YouTube, same as any normal YouTube user account, the company doesn't have a leg to stand on because they should have got the YouTube username early on.

Well in my experience YouTube defaults to siding with the large organizations, even when it comes to putting in fraudulent copyright claims etc. In this sort of situation its usually best not to kick up a stink about it unless your 100% certain you can win or you will just end up getting into more trouble.

As for VEVO, its the scummy boil on the backside of YouTube and serves no real purpose. Most self-respecting musicians tend to have their own channels usually in the form of something like blahblahOfficial.

[cat666]

It depends on circumstances. You are obviously doing it for the possible money so yes, if they want the name you should be forced to hand it over.

Someone mentioned the mands.com case. In my view if Marks and Spencers hadn't registered it and someone called Amanda, set up a shop called Mands, and then registered mands.com she should be entitled to the name, and if Marks and Spencers want it, then they should pay for it. If I recall it correctly it was just someone trying it on with the name so Marks and Spencers were right to challenge it.

[Apprentice 2 SA]

Originally Posted by cat666

It depends on circumstances. You are obviously doing it for the possible money so yes, if they want the name you should be forced to hand it over.

Someone mentioned the mands.com case. In my view if Marks and Spencers hadn't registered it and someone called Amanda, set up a shop called Mands, and then registered mands.com she should be entitled to the name, and if Marks and Spencers want it, then they should pay for it. If I recall it correctly it was just someone trying it on with the name so Marks and Spencers were right to challenge it.

Exactly. If you can find a legal use for a WarnerBrosVEVO account, you're fine. Otherwise don't bother.