If my friend bought a URL and I later bought the copyright for the URL...who owns it?

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JonnySilverhand
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If my friend bought a URL and I later bought the copyright for the URL...who owns it?

Post by JonnySilverhand »

Ok, so I apologize if this is not the correct forum to post this but it doesn't directly relate to phpbb, so I thought it would be alright to post here.

My best friend and I started brainstorming ideas for a website and although I came up with the website name and most of the ideas, he did come up with some ideas I want to use as well.

I am poor so even though I thought of the website name, he bought the URL. He is my best friend and I trust him but I know that when people start making a lot of money (I have confidence that my idea can make decent money for us) they can change for the worse.

I worry about a situation where the website profits start flooding in and my best friend just takes all the money leaving me with nothing or just the crumbs because he bought and owns the website name.

So I was thinking, if I bought the copyright to the website name that he already bought...who would own it?

I want us to co-own the website name via copyright. I want to set up a situation were we are co-founders and the profits are 50/50 or at least around that.

The problem is that we both live in different countries, so we would only be able to set this up online...is this even possible?

I would greatly appreciate any help with this.
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Lumpy Burgertushie
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Re: If my friend bought a URL and I later bought the copyright for the URL...who owns it?

Post by Lumpy Burgertushie »

as far as I know there is no such thing as a copyright on a domain name. it is not a url it is just the domain name that you buy.

you can copyright the idea for the business, you can copyright any content that you create etc.
depending on the country you live in and what the copyright laws are for that country, things can be different.


robert
JonnySilverhand
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Re: If my friend bought a URL and I later bought the copyright for the URL...who owns it?

Post by JonnySilverhand »

Hmm...that worries me since he already bought the URL/website name. So even if I say copyright the content of the site...he would still be the owner then since he bought it?

I didn't think it was impossible to copyright a URL/website name.

If I bought the URL/website name I can understand being able to copyright the content, he bought it so it seems I am completely screwed if he suddenly claims all the profits for himself later on down the road.
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david63
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Re: If my friend bought a URL and I later bought the copyright for the URL...who owns it?

Post by david63 »

You are going to get into even more problems further down the road. Who will be paying for the hosting? Whose bank account will any income go into?

The best suggestion is to think this through and then put it all in writing which you both sign - it might not change anything but at least you will have something to work on.
JonnySilverhand
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Re: If my friend bought a URL and I later bought the copyright for the URL...who owns it?

Post by JonnySilverhand »

david63 wrote: Sat Jan 29, 2022 7:42 am You are going to get into even more problems further down the road. Who will be paying for the hosting? Whose bank account will any income go into?

The best suggestion is to think this through and then put it all in writing which you both sign - it might not change anything but at least you will have something to work on.
Yes, I definitely want to set up something like this.

My friend is paying for the hosting now too. I want to set up a Patreon account and also have a donation option on the website as well. We plan to allow 3rd parties to advertise as well.

I am curious if it is possible to have a Patreon account or similar website linked to more than one bank account? I assume that is 100% impossible and even moreso since we are in different countries.

We both have PayPal accounts as well, but I am not sure. We are still trying to figure this out.
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Mick
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Re: If my friend bought a URL and I later bought the copyright for the URL...who owns it?

Post by Mick »

I’d suggest employing an attorney if you’re that concerned about it especially as you’re in two different countries. Having said that it could be years before any site you have turns a profit if any.
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Re: If my friend bought a URL and I later bought the copyright for the URL...who owns it?

Post by thecoalman »

Laws are similar or the same in most countries but In the US:

Copyright - covers unique works like photos, music, video/film, text(including code), sculptures, other forms of art and things of that nature. Copyright is granted automatically to the author upon creation*. Registration is not required and for most works it's typically not done, common example is newspapers articles while copyrighted are not registered works. Note the registration does not provide proof of ownership because I can just as easily register your work as you can. It does provide one pretty big benefit, if you successfully sue someone for infringement the damages collected can be significantly more if the infringement occurred after registration. As side note as far as forum content the copyright belongs to the poster, you have been granted a soft license by their agreement to TOS and their voluntary use of the site. How this would apply is if for example you had recipe section(yes recipes are copyrighted), you would not be able to aggregate them into a book and sell it.

*If you are an employee the copyright is assigned to the employer without a contract that says otherwise beforehand. It can also be assigned through written contract for company you contract, e.g if you hire a photographer for your wedding the copyright for those photos belong to them, you can obtain the copyrights with a written contract that specifically grants them to you.

Trademarks - These cover names, logos and things that would identify a company or product. You need to apply for this. Trademark does not grant you exclusive rights to something, there is a difference between American airlines and the American Airlines.

Patents - covers inventions, processes and unique designs for products and some other things. You need demonstrable product and you need to register your patent.

You cannot copyright, trademark or patent an idea. It needs to be in some tangible form.

As far as the domain the legal "owner" is the registrant, owner is quotes because no one actually owns a domain. You may be able to trademark the name which would prevent them from masquerading as the trademarked name but that wouldn't necessarily grant you control of the domain. You either need to gain control of the domain or set up company that owns it with clearly defined ownership of assets if you want to continue to involve your friend.
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Marek Muc
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Re: If my friend bought a URL and I later bought the copyright for the URL...who owns it?

Post by Marek Muc »

and don't worry, it's not too late to figure out the details - the domain name and an idea are just a starting point, over 99% of success comes from execution (even if you think that the idea is brilliant)
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QG102
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Re: If my friend bought a URL and I later bought the copyright for the URL...who owns it?

Post by QG102 »

You could always speak to the registrar and reregister as a partnership. This is what I would suggest to your friend as it is the proper way of doing the registration. You should also be thinking about trademarking as opposed to copyrighting.
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