Legal Question in Technology Law in California

Is it legal to use a late celebs name and likeness on a website?

After 3 years of having a tribute page to a late celebrity, I decided to obtain the domain name to match the page. The Domain name contained the name of the Celeb. Shortly thereafter the family of the celeb served me with a cease and desist order indicating that they had complete namerights under Civil code Section 900. In the original order they made reference to "cybersquatting", as well as inappropriate links, which were not true, and they later retracted. However they insist I continue to remove my website, despite the fact that there are numerous other websites on the celeb on the internet. They also insist I surrender the domain name and have offered to compensate me for what I paid. To date I have removed my site and agreed to their demands, but have not yet transferred the domain. Given the other websites, it annoys me greatly that I was singled out. I never intended to "cybersquat" the name. What are my options?


Asked on 2/02/00, 10:14 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Lawrence Graves Coolidge & Graves PLLC

Re: Is it legal to use a late celebs name and likeness on a website?

Just sell them the name for your cost, as they propose. The new federal cyber-squatting law is a real bear, and you don't want to be on the wrong end of it. If your content was good, the family may want to acquire it separately, but I quite understand their desire to get the domain name squared away first. This is NOT a place where you want to try to profit, since by so doing you would be putting yourself within the scope of the federal law.

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Answered on 2/04/00, 12:08 pm


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