hey guys if any of you guys are good with legal stuff some help would be appreciated.

so there’s this brand tld, which i won’t state for privacy sake. it is, coincidentally, my last name. naturally, i thought it would be pretty cool if i could change my personal domain to <my first name>.<my last name> but after contacting them i did not get a response.

do you guys think i have any legal standing to get my domain? could anyone help?

You don't have a right to it, no. But if you already had it, your right to keep it would be upheld in the case of a large company trying to take it from you. Read about Uzi Nissan or survivor software.

Did you try registering it? Did you get some kind of failure message?

Or are you hoping to get this domain for free forever? The answer to that is an absolutely unqualified no. Everyone has to pay for their domains.

@bahua i did not already have the domain, that's impossible, i had my last name before they created the brand tld, and it's been in my family for longer then the company has been around. and i can't register it, because brand tlds can't be registered through a normal registrar. so what i did was contact them, and they haven't replied. i'd pay for it, and doesn't my last name count as intellectual property?

Maybe maybe MAYBE, if you could prove that you had previously had plans to create this TLD yourself, a court might award it to you, or equivalent damages. That would cost a lot in legal fees, though.

But no, your last name isn't intellectual property. No one alive, let alone you, created the last name, and it would be difficult(and expensive) to prove that it's a created work at all. Intellectual property refers to created works, not inherited names.

If you own a brand by this name, then you might have a case, but that's only if the domain is already registered, which doesn't appear to be the case here.

@bahua that's sucks but its what u expected, thanks

@calmyourtities your last name doesn't count as IP no, I don't think. And I don't see why you would have a right to the TLD if it has been previously registered.

@willol

It looks like he just wants to register a domain under the TLD, but it's restricted to commercial brands, and not for personal use. When he's inquired about this via email, he's been ignored.

@bahua ah, yeah makes a bit more sense. I'd be very surprised if the company said yes though, and they certainly aren't obligated to