Do you have ownership of your own name? Do you have to trademark yourself?

I never registered my name as a dotcom. So, I went to a conference earlier this month and presented on some random topic. A guy calls my office today and asks if I%26#039;d be interested in blogging for his little consortium. (My partner took the call.) Oh, and by the way he owns the domain name of my name. He registered it today.

I have an extremely rare full name (one other person seems to have it based on searches I%26#039;ve done over the years). I don%26#039;t want to tango with this guy. Should I have my lawyer handle this or do I have any other options really??

Any thoughts?

Do you have ownership of your own name? Do you have to trademark yourself?

I found an article here:

http://www.circleid.com/posts/new_york_d...

that says that New York and California have both passed laws to protect you in the case that someone registers your personal name with %26quot;the specific intent to profit from such name by selling the domain name for financial gain to that person or any third party.%26quot;

There%26#039;s also a reference to similar federal legislation: (15 USC 1129 (http://www.bitlaw.com/source/15usc/1129.... ) and 1125 C (http://www.bitlaw.com/source/15usc/1125.... )).

But I think the key element may be that you%26#039;d need to prove that he did it with the intent to force you to pay him.

In 2004, I think I remember a Maryland politician who registered his opponent%26#039;s name before he got a chance to (or maybe registered the .org or .com) and used it as an attack site, and I don%26#039;t recall him being forced to give up the name. http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20041018-... and http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/art...

Disclaimer: not a lawyer here, just thought it was an interesting question.

Do you have ownership of your own name? Do you have to trademark yourself?

You%26#039;re welcome. :) Report It