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09/03/2007 11:36:30 PM · #1
I have been working on a personal website that will showcase my photography and photo restoration. Due to my disabilities I cannot do event photography or photography that requires set dates because I don't know how I will feel from day-to-day. So my work (amateurish at best) will be of pictures that move me and processed to covey my feelings. Yes I may offer some prints for sale and/or offer photo restoration services. The problem is the name of my website.

Currently there is a website (www.whiddonphotography.com) and I want my site to be named whiddonphotography. If I choose to use www.whiddonphotography.net as my website do you see this infringing in anyway on the .com site?

Opinions Please. Thanks in advance.
Scott

09/03/2007 11:38:42 PM · #2
nope, not at all. They should have bought all of the .xxx to stop this happening if they were concerned.
09/03/2007 11:49:37 PM · #3
I agree with Shadow16. My nephew had the same experience with dougthompson.net his website, as there was another photographer with d t . com. 4 years and no problems so far.
09/03/2007 11:58:43 PM · #4
I am not sure what I would do if this was my decision to make. I shouldn't think there would be a lot of hassle doing so since that is part of the reason there are so many .xxx out there. Seems like there was a rule set for who got what. Government got .gov. schools got .edu and so on. Not anymore it seems. anyways...

One thing you are going to have to realize is that most people will go to a .com address first. it is gonna be that way. Even most browsers... if you type just the name of the site... like whiddonphotography... in the address bar, the browser will automatically go to the .com site.

I think I would probably just rename it to photographybywhiddon.com and then make sure I added as many meta-tags and so on in order to make sure all of the web spiders found my site first!!!

Good luck in your decision.
09/03/2007 11:59:31 PM · #5
All's fair in internet domain name business - go for it. And do it quickly before they snag the .net addy!
09/04/2007 12:01:46 AM · #6
The .com .net and .org are were originally intended to be used for commercial, ISP, and "other" organizations, respectively, but was never enforced that way. Instead they ended up becoming a larger pool of names to pick from. Then big business came along and decided that if you owned a website with their name in it you were legal fodder, thus shrinking the pool again. It's a great big effing mess if you ask me, but I doubt you'll get hassled by a site owner in a different region in this case.

As was said they would/should have bought the related domains if they had that concern.
09/04/2007 12:14:23 AM · #7
I sort of had the same problem with Baconphoto.com and to make matters worse...We both have the same first name, we're both from Colorado, and of course both into photography...how's that for coincidences? I actually found his site on accident back when a friend was showing me google for the first time.

I ended up using sabphotography out of respect for him and his work, cause he is a much better photog and at the time I was just kind of beginning anyway. While I wouldn't mind people thinking his work is mine...I doubt he'd want the reverse lol. I actually contacted him a year or so back and he invited me to come shoot with him next time I'm back in Colorado.

I really don't think there is an issue with what you are planning as long as your not trying to get close to his name so that you can ride his coat tails...(which I seriously doubt you are doing)
09/04/2007 12:18:26 AM · #8
It is ignorant to believe that your name is so exclusive that no other person in the world may have it, or share your hobbies/job/ect...

As someone stated above, the person should have bought all of them if they didn't want anyone else to gather them. Or, they may of thought no one else would use it. Either way, there are no laws I am aware of that would infringe as such on a persons name. Unless it was So widely known that there was blantent spoungage. i.e. Wendys Hamburgers..

Regardless, photography is pretty much a local thing, unless a person can travel all over the world, and if that was the case I don't think there would be confusion over a website... least nothing that wouldn't be handled quickly and quietly.

(by no means im I trying to insult the op in any way my first statement is of general content and not directed at any single person)
09/04/2007 12:39:50 AM · #9
Thanks everyone for your input. It will be a while before I take my site from localhost to the web. I don't want to loose the option of using my last name but at the same time I don't want to infringe on his site.

I may go with swhiddonphotography.com.
09/04/2007 02:30:35 AM · #10
At some point, you may have a mutual agreement to add something like this on your home page:
"if you're looking for other whiddon site, please click here"

And as long as both of you have it shown it is a fair game. Now, depending on how many links TO your web site each one of you has, it may or may not be equally beneficial to both of you.

Something to consider...
09/04/2007 03:45:13 AM · #11
Originally posted by _eug:

The .com .net and .org are were originally intended to be used for commercial, ISP, and "other" organizations, respectively, but was never enforced that way.


Kind of off topic, but for quite a while, they were. To get a .net domain you had to provide some form of accreditation to ICANN. For .org you had to provide a 501c3 certificate, or similar. This was... 15+ years ago, though.
09/04/2007 04:25:41 AM · #12
Could you hyphenate it? whiddon-photography.com for example?
09/04/2007 04:41:40 AM · #13
I would go for a different address, such as www.stevewhiddon.com, or whatever.
That way you won't lose people who want your website and goto .com by mistake, and you won't infringe.
Easier for both of you i think.
09/04/2007 04:48:16 AM · #14
Originally posted by Ben:

I would go for a different address, such as www.stevewhiddon.com, or whatever.
That way you won't lose people who want your website and goto .com by mistake, and you won't infringe.
Easier for both of you i think.


I agree. Remember that people will go (more naturally) to a .com than they would to a .net.

It's difficult to say how the registrars would treat it if it went to abitration over the name, should the other person kick up a fuss. If you had different businesses there would be no issue, but both being photography yours could be seen as a deliberate attempt to snag custom (even if it's not.)

An easier life for both of you might be for you to pick a different name. (and use a .com)
09/04/2007 04:56:30 PM · #15
Originally posted by Tez:

Could you hyphenate it? whiddon-photography.com for example?

that's what I did ... stevensphoto.com was taken, but I got stevens-photo.com (don't bother looking, there's nothing there yet).

That can go both ways, though ... people looking for my site would likely leave out the hyphen and find his site. People looking for his site are more likely to find it on chance than people looking for my site. Oh well -- doesn't matter anyway, as we're not in the same geographical location.
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