3 ms·
Ask HN: Can one copyright an online handle?
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If so, wouldnt the implications be legal binding to a person... but also, detrimental to any forum?
- dave4420 4y agoNope. They’re too short. Can you trademark a handle? Maybe. I’ve never heard of it happening though.
- Barrera 4y agoShort answer, I doubt it. Titles, domain names, and musical group names are all examples of things that explicitly can not be copyrighted. Here's the source: https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html You may be thinking of trademark. If your online handle is a trademark, you can exclude others from using it in trade. Linus Torvalds owns the trademark to "Linux" but has licensed it perpetually for free: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Mark_Institute https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Mark_Institute
- Komodai 4y agoTrademark, most likely. Copyright? Probably not.
- night-rider 4y agoMaybe not a handle but there is EDNS (Ether Domain Name Service). Not sure if you want that since Ethereum is a ponzicoin
- FinnKuhn 4y agoNot a lawyer, but if you are thinking about trademarking an online handle and count YouTube names as online handles the answer appears to be yes, as MrBeast has a trademark for "MRBEAST" with the serial number #88307131.