British born music artist Calvin Harris has filed a UDRP on the domain name CalvinHarris.com
Calvin Harris is a songwriter, record producer, remixer and DJ and his second studio album, Ready for the Weekend, which debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and earned a gold certification from the British Phonographic Industry within two months of release. Its lead single, “I’m Not Alone”, became Harris’s first number one on the UK Singles Chart.
Calvin Harris holds the record for the most top-10 hits from one studio album on the UK Singles Chart with nine hits, surpassing Michael Jackson.
Harris is dating Taylor Swift.
Calvin Harris official site is at Pop CalvinHarris.co.uk.
The domain name CalvinHarris.com was registered since March 14, 2007, under privacy since 2010.
The domain names has an Alexa rank of 10M meaning the domain name does get some traffic.
In September 24, 2010 the domain transferred to a Roberto Gutierrez of Tarija.
The domain name is now owned by Caribbean Online International Ltd. of Nassau Bahamas
The domain name was listed for sale on GoDaddy with a price of $49,999 but that listing no longer resolves.
I’m not sure when he became famous, but if he didn’t become famous before the domain was registered then there was no “bad faith” registration, even if the registrant purchased the domain for resale to a Calvin Harris. Of course this would have some people then calling for a change to the UDRP rules, to remove bad faith registration as a requirement for transfer if there was subsequent bad faith use.
The larger issue, however, is why should this Calvin Harris have a right to the domain name CalvinHarris.com just because he is a famous singer? If he has to wait on a line somewhere, should he have a right to get in front of people who are not famous? If he commits a crime, should he be treated different from us mere mortals by the courts?
Calvin Harris earned $66 million in 2014 up from $46 million in 2013 when he was also Forbes #1 highest paid DJ-
Born Adam Richard Wiles, the former grocery store stocker earned $66 million in our scoring period, playing more than 125 gigs. He’s found great success in the pop world, working with the likes of Rihanna and Kesha, which has helped him land headline gigs not only at EDM-focused events but also at festivals like Coachella. Harris continues to play regularly in Las Vegas where he has a multi-year deal at America’s biggest nightclub, Hakkasan.
Less than a decade ago, Adam Wiles was working the aisles of a Scottish grocery chain. Living out of his parents’ house without a college degree, he had all but given up on his dreams of making it as a musician, consigning himself to stock food items on store shelves for the rest of his life.
From Forbes 104 “At more than $45 million, Harris–who didn’t even make FORBES’ inaugural list of the world’s top-earning DJs last year–had a bigger 12-month take than the likes of Jay Z, Katy Perry and frequent collaborator Rihanna. Like many of the world’s top-earning electronic acts, the Scot earns the bulk of his money from his life on the road, where fees in high-end markets like Vegas could hit $300,000 for a single night’s work.”
He didn’t expect this path when he started and didn’t know enough to think and protect his brand at the outset. That’s not the owner’s problem and $50K is about one hour’s earnings for Calvin a very fair deal. He also dates Taylor Swift
Ps. his real name is Adam Wiles so he’s lost the UDRP right there
Proper noun disputes include KeithUrban who was unable to UDRP the .com away from a non-famous Keith Urban, and JohnStamos who successfully UDRP’d his .com from a registrant known as someone else.
Even if the real name was Wile E. Coyote, failure to secure his brand early enough won’t necessarily save the respondent . If someone registered diceclay.lol, you can reasonably anticipate the person born AndrewClaySilverstein considering measures to suspend or seize it.
She can buy it for him as a wedding present
I was reading this article on Huffington Post, and I thought you might be interested in reading it, too.
Taylor Swift Mouths ‘I Love You’ At Calvin Harris During Finale Of LA Show
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/08/26/taylor-swift-mouths-i-love-you-calvin-harris_n_8042610.html
Owen I don’t think Madonna was born with that name either
http://www.udrpsearch.com/wipo/d2000-0847
Interestingly, Madonna was christened, Madonna Louise Ciccone, by her Catholic parents. Her mother, of French Canadian descent, was also named, Madonna.