True. But I don't think he would have been satisfied with some fee -- he would have been prudent enough to realize the possibility of success so the contract was inevitable.
The woman who designed the Nike Swoosh was simply paid. Several years later the founder of Nike gave her stock to show his gratitude for helping define the brand.
I think he or you are overstating the importance of the domain name. There's nothing inherently special about the Nike swoosh. It just happen to be on shoes that people like to wear.
Yeah, you're way off on that. The swoosh is Nike. When people were mugging each other for Air Jordans, think back: each commercial ended with a silhouette of Jordan about to dunk, and below him, the Nike Swoosh.
Show anyone the swoosh and they either associate it with "Just Do It" (again, Nike's trademark) or Nike itself.
You might as well claim that Apple's startup chime is just another beep.
No, Nike made the swoosh. MJ was also just $45 million of marketing spent wisely. But the swoosh remains. It was a brilliant strategy. Tie the two together, but after so many years, when the athlete retires, you still have the swoosh.
Aesthetics. Marketing, including domain names, is terribly important. Why did all of the Facebook clones which existed pre-Facebook fail? Is it because of the unwelcoming black screen of ConnectU or ConnectU's name itself? Were Zuckerberg or the co-founders connectors? Was it what Facebook did right or what ConnectU (OK, or houseSYSTEM) did wrong? Domain, logo, look and feel all play a factor in brand and they all matter -- at least to some degree.
For such a small contribution though the whole thing sounds rather silly. Better to pay something upfront and/or ask for pro bono.