Keith Urban, Squared

Keith Urban, Squared by Roxanne McDonald

Keith Urban wants his name all to himself, but is that reasonable?

This article should be about Keith Urban the artist from New Jersey. This article most likely would not have been written just about Keith Urban the Australian Country Music crooner (a.k.a. Nicole Kidman’s post-Tom Cruise partner). But I have just read about how the latter has, as far as I’m concerned, taken his self-importance a bit too far.

Keith Urban the Australian country star has a website, keithurban.net.
Keith Urban the American painter has a website, keithurban.com.

Keith Urban the singer has had a hissy fit and is now reportedly suing (according to Star, stuff.co.nz, and others) Keith Urban the artist, claiming the painter’s site “leads to confusion and deception.� He wants (also according to stuff.co.nz) the painter’s site to be shut down and the domain name be transferred to his ownership. As well, he is asking for monetary damages.

Okay. Sigh. First, the singer surely has plenty of fans and followers who will be able to find him if they so wish to. Even if they are not the sharpest tools in the techno-box, they will be able to figure out within the amount of time it takes to read the painter’s first sentence that they have not arrived at a Keith Urban the performer site.

Next, a reasonable celebrity, with plenty of money from his platinum albums, Grammys, and sold-out tours might relinquish some traffic (however accidental) to the painter who is actually quite good, who is not making money with ads on his site, and who is probably not stealing all that much attention away from the singer. I mean, if we want country music tickets and we end up where oils are for sale, will we suddenly change goals and buy a painting instead of concert tix?

And third, an individual can legally and legitimately own any domain name he or she wants—that is not already taken (already registered). Keith Urban the artist has had his dot com domain since 1999. In 1999, Keith Urban the singer had no site and was probably far from conceiving the idea of a site, as he was just starting his music career–to be fair, making the his first album, Keith Urban, which later went platinum, in 2003.

So Keith Urban the painter had established his (again) painting website long before Keith Urban was a superstar to anyone other than his mother. Get over yourself. And be very grateful your name isn’t John Smith, mate.

More star news at Celebrity Spider

Reality and other TV articles at TV Robot

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