A client Michael Bisping has approached me to design him a website and market it for him. He recently won his 13th UFC fight and wants to get a better web presence.

The problem is michaelbisping.co.uk/.com/.net are taken.

Is their a way we can get the .com or .co.uk because it is his name or should we be looking for another domain.

Any advice would be grateful as I have never been asked to retrieve a domain that is already registered.

Many thanks,

Luke

Feel free to email me or PM me with any legal info I should look at etc.

That's really cool how you know these people, haha. About the domain though. I think you could try emailing the owners of those domains and try to negotiate a deal.

I am thinking of contacting the UFC because the currently run things with regards to Michael (as far as he knows). I am curious as to what would allow me to claim the domain, does his name need to be a trademark?!

I have little experience in law regarding domains so any advice is welcome!

Many thanks,

Luke

You could legally go after the owner of the domain assuming their name isn't the same as the domain name. You could possibly have a case for potential defamation of character. Contacting the owner is the first step though and when you do, do not come out firing, just inquire, might turn out better then you hope.

If this person regged this domain with DBP, then his name probably isn't also Michael Bipsing. Here's what I'd suggest:

1. Contact the domain owner either directly or through a service like Moniker and find out what they'd be willing to sell the domains for. May be cheaper than lawyer fees.

2. If you don't want to pay what they ask, have a domain lawyer send a UDRP, C&D, whatever.

3. Review relevant precedents:

WIPO Domain Name Decision: D2006-1514
personal name, not a celeb..good decision by WIPO - DNForum - Domain Sales, Domain Appraisals, Domain Registrars
Eliot Spitzer Files UDRP to Take EliotSpitzer.Com - DNForum - Domain Sales, Domain Appraisals, Domain Registrars
ICANN | Search UDRP Decisions

Some more for you, hope the mods don't mind all the links:

WIPO Domain Name Decision: D2000-1838
WIPO Domain Name Decision: D2006-1514
WIPO Domain Name Decision: D2003-0519
WIPO Domain Name Decision: D2000-1628
Trolling the UDRP: Index to Selected Decisions - look in the Celebrity Names section

Just got a PM off who appears to be the current owner of the domain who appears to of found me on these forums. Cant thank you enough guys, and Rob, cheers for all the links! much appreciated!

Nice to hear you found a solution to this issue .

Its always great to hear that a potential hot problem was resolved easily. Thanks for letting everyone know. Its encouraging.