Legal Experts.. have a ? for you, need help!
 

Hey,

I got this emailed to me.

I have releases for the content I produced as
well as I own the domain ' kathrynmacgregor.com'.

We shot her nearly 2 years ago, I bought the domain
Record created on 12-17-2002

If I am not mistaken, they have no grounds for
much of anything ?

Any help would be great.. I have an attorney in LA
so I will send this off as well.


Joel


Hello Mr. Raes,

It was recently brought to our attention that you are hosting an " official" site for Kathryn MacGregor. As you may know, "Kathryn" has worked for us as a contract actress and has given us the go-ahead to mount an official fan site for her and her new movie. She assures us that she has not legally given anyone else the rights to her trademark and name on this.

Please let us hear from you or your attorney regarding this. If you have a legal document entitling you to host Kathryn's website we would like to know of it so that we may change our plans. We will be sending an inquiry to Tim and Cissy as well on this.

Alpha
PFV

It sounds like they are being decent about it. Just tell them what you told us.

Send it to Larry :)

I agree with this statement. If that doesnt work, contact a guy like Larry Walters or someone similar to handle this.

I know very little about trademarks, let alone trademarks on peoples names....


But Kathryn MacGregor:
http://tinyurl.com/39msx
Returns (0 results)


Where as....

Jenna Jameson
http://tinyurl.com/2pr62
Returns a registered trademark for porn star Jenna Jameson.

She doesn't seem to have a registered trademark (R) for her name... but like I said, I'm not sure about the laws when it comes to actual peoples names.


I'll see if I can dig something up about peoples names, I do remember something about this....

I think you might be screwed.

But if you had KathrynMacGregorSucks.com...


:glugglug

I think we owned this domain long before
they had any business relationship.

Ownership does have some relevance.

We are not cybersquatting.

unless you have a contract with her giving you the rights to her official website and domain name for a certain period of time or in perpetuity I think you're gonna be screwed on this matter.

I love your boobs in your sig ! :1orglaugh

It could depend on the wording on the model release, get in touch with your lawyer.

If your release is tight you may be able to beat it. Our releases state that we can use image ,name and such any way we deem fit. .

coming to GFY for legal advice is like going to a bar for medical advice.

That being said, it sounds to me like she has misled Alpha. Tell him what you told us, and offer to sell your rights to them.

Thanks for the info.

I told them to spend their own $365.00 per hour
to have their attorney contact me.

I am not gonna spend that to give them an
answer since their is No trademark using that
'fictious' name.

I wouldn't ask for legal experts, I would ask a lawyer.

I would also look at how seriously attached you are to the name.

And then I'd decide whether to be cool about it - which sometimes I am, or if I wanted a fight.

It's all in the release, but there is also "False Designation of Origin". Chances are you have more money than they are willing to put into a fight. But it's going to cost them at least $10,000 to file a claim for it in court, which is more than they're probably going to make from her. Anything less and you probably don't even have to respond.

UNLESS they ICANN it. Then it is a cheap fight.