: Is it a legal problem if a domain name is a last name? Today we came across with a person whose last name is our domain name. It is not a meaningful word and as last name it is quite

@Shakeerah822

Depends what you do with it.

If it's an innocent use that has nothing to do with the family in question, you are probably fine. I'm sure there are people with the given name Trivago out there. They don't get any rights to the Trivago trademark. If someone "took it personally" and tried to sue you, they'd get spanked out of court, possibly with sanctions (penalties) particularly if they're in a SLAPP state.

The reverse is less certain. If your domain is a trade name in famous use, you could lose it unless you could show how you plan to use it in a way which is not related and not likely to cause consumer confusion. The best defense is already doing so. Katy Perry, DDO couldn't be sued for her domain name but would certainly get a nice offer.

On the other hand, if you registered a domain name because it is someone else's name... Different story. A famous person would argue consumer confusion, and would certainly win if your content was related to them (e.g. fan page), and throwing up falsework of an unrelated business (Ellie Goulding SEO Services LLC) would probably not convince anyone. Those wouldn't work on a non-famous person, they would have to convince a court that you were so likely to misuse it in the future, that it's fair to usurp your free-speech rights today. That would depend on showing an outrageous pattern of your past misconduct. By "misuse" I mean things you would be successfully sued for, e.g. libel.

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@Alves908

There is no current legal claim that can easily be made for a name as property with the exception of proven lineage.

For example, Lord McDonald who's family has operated a restaurant for 700 years, threatened to sue McDonalds (the fast food chain) if it did not cease and desist it's persuit of a small restaurant owner in England. In this case, lineage and ownership can be traced. Otherwise, these issues do not come up.

More to your point, domain names that are your own name are the right of anyone who registers the domain name.

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