Usain Bolt has brands such as Puma and Sandals in his camp, he is also a globally trademarked brand and yet his managers missed the US$10 per domain opportunity to register his usainbolt.com brand online? Come on! How coud his handlers be so shortsighted and sloppy to have let this happen.
How could they have missed protecting Usain Bolt’s domain name and also his brand in Facebook (There are 2 Facebook FanPages with a combined fanbase of 180,000, but which one is the Official Fan Page from those who are managing Usain Bolt’s brand?) And the same goes for AsafaPowell, Veronica Campbell and other Jamaican athletes.
In my mind, this is just another example of how we Jamaicans and Caribbean nationals do not take our own Jamaican and Caribbean brands as seriously as we should, unless someone is trying to sell it back to us. This also highlights the general mindset and that particularly of a lot of Jamaican and Caribbean companies, that are yet to take the Internet as a serious communications and marketing tool. Most of them have done little if nothing at all about going online in meaningful and powerful ways.
It is oh so sweet that JIPO is moving to block the sale of the domain name of Jamaican athletes, but again this is us,Jamaica, the Caribbean being reactive, when we should have been proactive. Maybe this issue with JIPO moving to block the sale of the athletes domain by a US-based company will help Jamaican people and Jamaican companies take their domain names, their priceless online real estate more seriously and in tow, Jamaican and Caribbean companies to realize and act on a few important things:
-Brand Jamaica is a powerful global brand and we’re behind in positioning ourselves to maximize on this. Jamaican and Caribbean people at home and in the Diaspora are online BIG TIME and they are pouring on at an alarming speed. They are an amazingly lucrative niche market with loads of untapped potential.
- Jamaican and Caribbean domain names for people, products and brands are super valuable and should be owned by the rightful individuals. So if you fall into that category, go register it at godaddy.com or networksolutions.com and stop procrastinating.
Domain names of past Jamaican Olympians of value too
It’s great that Jamaica’s current crop of Olympians are hot but what of our past Olympic Champions such as Grace Jackson(200m silver medalist, 1988 Seoul Olympics); Merlene Ottey (Dubbed Queen of the Track because among other things Ottey was the first female Caribbean athlete to win an Olympic medal and has won more Olympic medals than any other female athlete in the Western Hemisphere); Juliet Cuthbert(5 time Olympian, Double Silver Medal Winner, executive personal trainer and fitness entrepreneur) and then the legend Herb McKinley/McKenley ( He is still the only athlete to have reached an Olympic track final in all three of the classic sprint events, 100, 200 and 400 metres. His Olympic medal total of one gold and three silver.)
In fact, when I checked godaddy.com, I found that merleneottey.com was registered 3 years ago but no site has been developed as yet; Juliet Cuthbert a good friend of mine I registered her domain for her just last year but no site has been developed as yet. Herbmckinley and herbmckenley.com were available so I registered and will be hand them over to the rightful owners.
The only lesson here: Domain names are Internet real estate gold. Get yours and protect it.
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Well said Ingrid.
The problem is that the people in “power” think they know everything and refuse to seek out the assistance of those who know a specific field better than them, worse if you are younger than they are.
We in the Caribbean really are reactive instead of proactive when it comes to new opportunities and even this won’t change it because people refuse to learn from the mistakes of others.
On top of that, when people do approach these handlers etc. the proper way to execute business ideas and deals, they tend to only want to talk to the ‘name brand’ companies.
August 25th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
I have a question, since we are able to know who purchase http://www.usainbolt.com, it the purchaser is not Caribbean origin, Can Usain Bolt take action against this individual or company?
The world knows who Usain Bolt is and knows that he is the owner of such name
August 25th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Well based on the Jamaica Observer report, Usain Bolt is a globally trademarked name. So whether the company is Caribbean or not, Usain Bolt and his lawyers can take action and be successful in getting and not even buying the domains from the people who registered it.
The question I have in mind is this….will time be a factor…meaning…if the company registered the domain BEFORE Usain Bolt was registered as a Global trademark can they then make a case of we got to it first. Or is the fact that Usain Bolt IS a now a globally registered trademark clears the path to rights to all things that bear his name regardless of the time period.
In fact I’m going to check this.
August 25th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
This was an important topic!! Ditto to David!!
August 26th, 2008 at 4:18 am
good stuff
awaiting your response!
August 27th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Ingrid, to my knowledge, whether or not the name ‘Usain Bolt’ was globally trademarked before or after is moot.
First use tends to always win and Usain was world champion from 15, so his name has been in first use globally before the domain name was registered. Now that his name is even bigger doesn’t change the fact that it was already a name associated with a specific runner years before.
But, if the person who bought the name actually used it as an Usain Bolt fan club or website about Usain, they would be allowed to keep it, just like the Jamaica.com case that caused the Jamaica Tourist Board to have to buy a different name (first JamaicaTravel.com and now VisitJamaica.com).
It just goes to show that no one learnt from the tourist board’s mistake.
August 28th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
I’m pretty sure this isn’t the last time we’ll hear about incidents like this. In the Caribbean, public and private sector entities seem to be ignoring the online revolution. As far as i’ve seen there are a handful of individuals that are taking advantage of the internet (quite a few making profits) but for the most part people seem to think the internet only exists for email and chat.
Hopefully we will wake up before its too late, I personally have no problem with the web real estate business I think it should be first come first served - after all I tried to purchase shellyannfraser.com about 45 minutes after she won the Olympic Gold and it was already gone
I wonder if they are seeking to get boltenergydrink.com as well? or boltbroadband.com? or any the host of bolt.com’s that now exist? ( yeah i’ve been researching) anyway it’s the early bird that gets the worm or the web as the case may be.
August 29th, 2008 at 3:06 am
This is something they should have considered long ago. Ah well, we’ll see how it goes. It’s just such a pity.
Ato Boldon recognised the value of a domain name, http://www.atoboldon.com, and has had his website in full operation for years now. Hopefully, athletes will ensure that they have strategic ownership of key online branding.
September 12th, 2008 at 1:29 am