Legality of Website name

[melissann]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY

I hope this is the right area to post- I purchased a website "www.paranormal-detectives.com" for a group I am a member of. We do investigations on haunted homes etc etc and the group is non profit. One of the members of the group used to be a private detective and said there may be legal problems with the term "detectives" being part of the site name (something about being licensed). I have called I dont know how many numbers trying to get this question answered... no one can seem to help me. No where on the site do I refer to any of the group as 'detectives' it is just the site name. I thought it was a catchy name honestly but I took the site down because everyone in the group was "concerned" of the legal ramifications of the name.

Can someone please tell me if the site name is ok to use for the purpose I listed above?
Thank you so much in advance for any help...
MelissAnn

 

[xjake88x]

If certain reserved words were illegal to have in a domain name, the registrar would most likely filter them out.

Although I'm not a law professional, I am a professional in web design and other relevant internet-related fields.

On those grounds, I could see absolutely no reason why having that word in your domain would be unlawful.

And if it were, the first page of google search "inurl:detectives" reveals many "criminals"

net-detectives.org
soapdetectives.com
frauddetectives.com
diseasedetectives.org
particledetectives.net
diningdetectives.com
dealdetectives.com

 

[FlyingRon]

The domain people don't care what you put in the name. You can put POLICE in it for all that matters.

However, your local governments where you operate may feel strongly about you using detective in a business name if you don't meet their regulatory requirements for such. Around here in VA I can guarantee it would attract some attention and the licensing for private investigations is NOT trivial.

 

[melissann]

The domain people don't care what you put in the name. You can put POLICE in it for all that matters.

However, your local governments where you operate may feel strongly about you using detective in a business name if you don't meet their regulatory requirements for such. Around here in VA I can guarantee it would attract some attention and the licensing for private investigations is NOT trivial.

Yes- but it is not the groups business name- the groups actual name is "North State Paranormal Investigations" the web site name is simply that- a general name for a web site since I thought "www.northstateparanormalinvestigations.com" was ridiculously long.

We are not claiming to be private investigators either.... paranormal investigators yes- and other than the website title I dont even use the term detective.... so I am guessing by the way you word this I am fine since the term"detective" is not anywhere in the legal name of the group.

Thanks both of you for your help.
Melissa

 

[xjake88x]

Tell your friends they have absolutely no reason to worry if the word detectives is merely a part of the web-site URL.