Legal Issues with Band fansite

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Aneurysm

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May 9, 2011
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I just got hold of a pretty popular band (exact keyword) domain and was thinking of starting a fansite and monetize the shit out of it.

I've searched and it seems there are legal issues about it with Adwords, but the thing is 99% of the fansites out there are doing it.

will I get in trouble for sticking in an amazon sales link for CD's and merchandising?

Anything I should shy away from using? Getting banned by Google would suck a bit.

Thank you very much :liebe028:
 


Aneurysm said:
so is it a go at your own risk kind of thing?
Click to expand...

Using copyrighted names or trademarks are always tricky.

Good example is this Japanese comic fansite (narutofan dot com). It's been running years before Viz acquired the US license to use the 'naruto' name. The site ran with no problems for years until this year Viz decided to shit on them.

It's really up to the owner of the name if they wanna mess with you or not.
 
You should be okay doing this.

However beware the band will be able to take the domain off you quite easily through the legal system.

Also make sure you have a clear notice saying that you are not in any way affiliated with or representing the band.


Good luck!
 
Figure out if it's worth it.

I know that a popular "fake celebrity" Twitter account netted the guy thousands when the actual celebrity endorsed him after going viral...He must have seen it as "oh, i'm getting more money let's keep this going"

It could have went the other way though, the celeb could have easily got him shut down for legal reasons...

Maybe stay away from AdSense on site and go for a content blocker to a part of the site? I'm not sure of this in any in terms of legality, as you're still making money from the band in a way.
 
Trademarked domains don't always win (paypalsucks). Just comes down to money and time. If you have alot of both you can fight something like this. If not, don't bother.
 
to be honnest, as long as you clearly state your not affiliated with or representing the band in any way.

the worst that can happen is the site gets taken down.

They only way they could get any money out of you is if they said you where "passing off" , this term means you are making money from the site because people think that website is owned by the official band.

Or they could sue you for reputation damages.

Again all of these are very unlikely as it will cost them alot in legal fees, and if you have some obvious text saying you are not them or representing them, they cant really do shit.

Sources:
sued by dell
 
If you live in the US, think it twice. If you don't, the worst thing that can happen is the site being taken down.
 
If it is an exact match and gets a lot of searches. Register & Throw up a quick Blog.

The disclaimer is a must but other than that make sure you plaster the word "Fan Site" all over the site (including the logo.)

Contact a writer and make sure the entire content is written in First-person style and the language is that of a hardcore fan.

Throw up wallpapers and always write good stuff about the band. Write short, concise & descriptive posts about their tours. And make sure you splash up a huge banner across the site again stating that you're not the official site and link to the band's official website/Myspace Page.

For the monetizing part, stay away from Google Adsense. A single DMCA filed and Google reps will jump all over your account. You can monetize with CPA - dating ads/ringtones. Anything that satiates the fanboys!

Another advantage of splashing up wordpress is that you can monetize it using stuff like Postlinks/Payperpost etc.

Cheers
 
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tomyates said:
to be honnest, as long as you clearly state your not affiliated with or representing the band in any way.

the worst that can happen is the site gets taken down.

They only way they could get any money out of you is if they said you where "passing off" , this term means you are making money from the site because people think that website is owned by the official band.

Or they could sue you for reputation damages.

Again all of these are very unlikely as it will cost them alot in legal fees, and if you have some obvious text saying you are not them or representing them, they cant really do shit.

Sources:
sued by dell
Click to expand...
interesting... from where are you?
never mind just saw you're from UK.

why is US is so different?
 
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