Tag Archives: legal

Wed 10th June 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN to U.S. Government: End Joint Project Agreement - ICANN Chairman of the Board asks government to conclude JPA upon expiration this year. Peter Thrush, Chairman of ICANN’s Board of Directors, has sent an eleven page letter (pdf) to National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) asking to end the Joint Project Agreement when it expires later this year. The letter was in response to NTIA’s Notice of Inquiry regarding “the transition of the technical coordination and management of the internet’s ... read more ...
Tue 9th June 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
How to Respond to a Domain Threat - What to do when you receive a domain threat. I rarely receive legal threats about my domain names. I’ve never received a UDRP, and can remember only a couple times someone took the time to e-mail me suggesting that they had rights to my domains. (None of those people followed up, by the way.) But this morning I got “one of those” calls. My cell phone rang at 7:40 this morning, and the person on the other end said, “I see that you own thisdomain.com. I’m ... read more ...
Mon 8th June 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Will VeriSign Hold Domain Name Prices Steady this Year? - With significant bad publicity, a negative court decision, and a watchful eye in Washington, will VeriSign not invoke its full 7% .com price increase this year? For the past two years, .com and .net registry VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN) has increased prices on .com domain names 7% and .net 10%, the maximum allowed under its contract with ICANN. The .com contract allows VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN) to increase .com fees 7% per year for four years of each six year term in its ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Christian Dior Loses Domain Case to Adult Actress - Christian Dior plays rough with adult actress; gets kicked out of bed. Fragrance and fashion company Christian Dior has lost a challenge for the domain name KiannaDior.com to an adult actress. The company challenged Victoria Woo, who goes by the stage name Kianna Dior, to get rights to the domain name. That the domain name KiannaDior.com could be found confusingly similar to ChristianDior.com is somewhat surprising. In fact, it seemed that the arbitrator was going ... read more ...
Fri 5th June 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
VeriSign Gets Walloped in Court, .Com Domain Prices Could Fall - VeriSign on losing end of appeal over registry contract. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has reversed a lower court decision throwing out an antitrust lawsuit by Coalition for ICANN Transparency (CFIT) against VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN). This means an antitrust lawsuit against VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN) can go forward, which may eventually mean lower .com domain name registration prices. The plaintiff’s counsel was domain name attorney Bret ... read more ...
Thu 4th June 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Technology Policy Institute To Speak during ICANN Hearings - Authors of recent study about ICANN to provide testimony. Thomas Lenard of Technology Policy Institute and co-author of a recent study about ICANN’s structure will provide testimony at today’s congressional hearings on ICANN. Yesterday Domain Name Wire reported about Go Daddy’s planned testimony. Lenard’s testimony will also call for reform of ICANN before it is cut loose, according to a document on TPI’s web site (pdf). However, as I noted when TPI’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Congress Beats Up ICANN (Part 1) - Members of the House rip into ICANN over pricing, transparency, and security. It wasn’t pretty. For better than two hours today, members of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet took turns ripping into Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and its President/CEO Paul Twomey. If nothing else, ICANN’s experience on Capitol Hill today will give it all the more reason to try to get out of U.S. oversight. In ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Congress Beats Up ICANN (Part 2) - Twomey gets his turn to talk; Verizon shows concerns about new TLDs. In the first part of Domain Name Wire’s coverage of today’s congressional hearings on ICANN I summarized some of the committee members’ opening remarks. Now let’s turn to the witnesses’ opening remarks. The witnesses were National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Fiona Alexander, ICANN President Paul Twomey, VeriSign Senior Vice President Kenneth Silva, Go Daddy General ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Congress Beats Up ICANN (Part 3) - Question and answer period at hearing gets testy. In part 1 of our coverage of today’s U.S. House of Representatives hearing on ICANN, DNW covered committee member’s opening remarks. Part two covered witnesses’ opening testimony. The real fireworks started when the committee members asked questions of the witnesses. Committee chairman Rick Boucher (D-Virginia) started the questioning by following up on Verizon’s comments about cybersquatting. (Verizon ... read more ...
Wed 3rd June 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
The Incredible Mutating Domain Appraisal Scam - Scam must be working as it keeps moving to new domain names. First Pozde.com. Then TropicalNames.com. Then NameOrange. Now the latest domain name appraisal scam has moved to FlyAppraisals.com. It’s all the same scam and the same scammers. You get an email offering to buy your domain name for some percentage of the appraisal price: We are interested to buy your domain name DOMAIN.COM and offer to buy it from you for 65% of the appraised market value. As of now ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Names a Topic on Capitol Hill Thursday - Hearing to discuss ICANN’s future will be held Thursday. Domain names, specifically ICANN, will be discussed tomorrow in Washington. The House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet will hold a congressional hearing tomorrow about the future of ICANN and the U.S. government’s involvement. ICANN has already garnered the support of Al Gore and former ICANN chairman Vint Cerf that the joint project agreement should be concluded, effectively ... read more ...
Tue 2nd June 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Arbitrator Says Complainant Harassed Domain Owner - Domain arbitrator says complainant brought complaint to harass domain owner but won’t find reverse domain name hijacking. LaFrance Corporation made a dubious attempt at getting the domain name LaFrance.com and lost. But despite overwhelming weakness in its case, an arbitrator with World Intellectual Property Organization failed to find reverse domain name hijacking. Just wait until you read why. But first, let’s consider this case. LaFrance Corporation uses ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Bill Clinton Loses Domain Name Challenge - Former United States president Bill Clinton has lost a challenge for three domain names. Bill Clinton had a way of winning at the polls, but he couldn’t persuade an arbitrator this month that he should have rights to the domain names williamclinton.com, williamjclinton.com and presidentbillclinton.com. The domain names were registered by an outfit called “Web of Deception” and allegedly forwarded to the Republican National Committee’s web site. The arbitrator ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Goes Back to Professor to Clarify New gTLD Demand - Original report author to address feedback. In March 2009 ICANN released two reports from professor Dennis Carlton of The University of Chicago about demand for new global top level domain names and competition. At the time, Domain Name Wire described them as “whitewash” reports. They were essentially propaganda pieces supporting ICANN’s view that there is demand for new TLDs, and showed that Carlton lacked general understanding of the top level domain ... read more ...
Mon 1st June 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Hate UDRP’s: Say Hello To Something Much Worse, The Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS): Get Ready To Lose Your Domains - Trademark holders, unhappy with UDRP’s, a system under which they already have over a 85% win rate, formed a group, The Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT), which was given committee status by ICANN’s Intellectual Property Constituency “to give additional protection to trademark holders  in the implementation of new gTLDs”. If you want to see a list of members of the IRT click here. The 68 page,  IRT final report was released late Friday night.  The committee which was suppose to ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Will Software Makers Really Support New TLDs? - Unclear if software makers will support all new top level domain names. One issue for top level domain name applicants is getting software makers, such as e-mail software companies, to approve their top level domains and make them work with their software. The second draft guidebook for new TLD applicants provides a lengthy warning about this, stating that applicants “may find themselves expending considerable efforts working with providers to achieve acceptance ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Governments Want Control of New Geo Domain Names - Governmental Advisory Committee continues push for control of domains at top and second levels. One of the more disturbing debates about the launch of new top level domain names is a land grab by Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). Think of GAC as a United Nations scheme for domain names. They were given a voice at the table to prove that ICANN isn’t just a puppet of the U.S. government. GAC wants to protect both top level domains and second level domain names ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Releases 214-Page Comment Analysis Paper - ICANN summarizes comments from second draft new gTLD applicant guidebook. ICANN has released a 214 page document summarizing feedback to its second draft applicant guidebook for new top level domain names. I spent my Sunday evening reading (OK, sometimes skimming) through it. Today I will write a few posts covering some of my concerns, including: 1. How ICANN seems to be capitulating to Governmental Advisory Committee’s (GACs) demands to protect top level and ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Jimmy Choo and Jimmy Morrison Win Domain Names - Two guys named Jimmy win domain names. Two Jimmy’s have won domain names through arbitration decisions, but one of the Jimmy’s is a brand and the other one is dead. In a decision at World Intellectual Property Forum, upscale shoe seller Jimmy Choo won the domain name JimmyChoo.mobi. Perhaps Jimmy Choo wants to sell you $500 shoes while you’re on your phone, or it is just trying to protect its brand. In another WIPO decision, the estate of late rocker Jim ... read more ...
Sun 31st May 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Trademark Group Pushes Rapid Domain Takedown Scheme - Group submits final report to ICANN. Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT), an ad hoc group put together to represent trademark interests in the launch of new top level domains, has issued its final report (pdf). The report will be discussed at ICANN’s next meeting in Sydney. The part that seems most relevant to domain investors is the Uniform Rapid Suspension system (URS). Think of it as a fast track UDRP for obvious trademark cases. Here are few of my observations: 1. ... read more ...
Fri 29th May 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Google Sued Again: This is Going to Be A Huge Issue - Google has been hit with another AdWords-related lawsuit, this time by a Connecticut law firm.The personal injury firm Stratton, Faxon filed a suit in the New Haven Superior Court alleging that its name was being used to trigger ads for the rival law firm Silver, Golub and Teitell. Stratton, Faxon causing confusion and endangers its reputation. The firm has asked for an injunction and for a prejudgment lien against Google for $50,000. Attorney Michael Stratton (not the ex-football player), a partner ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
RB.net Domain Owner Can Keep Domain Name - Arbitration panel finds no bad faith, but declines to find reverse domain name hijacking. A Korean man has successfully defended against a domain arbitration claim waged by United Kingdom pharmaceutical company Reckitt Benckiser Plc for the domain name RB.net. Reckitt Benckiser claimed to have common law rights to the term ‘RB’. It claimed that the domain name was a parking page until 2006 showing unrelated pay-per-click links, and since then has not resolved. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Thought Convergence Amends Lawsuit Against Westerdal - Amended complaint includes new parties and allegations. Thought Convergence (TCI) has amended its complaint against Jay Westerdal and other parties related to TCI’s acquisition of Name Intelligence, LLC (NIL). The amended complaint names Name Intelligence, Inc., a holding company owned in part by Westerdal, and DOTMOVIE, Westerdal’s company that plans to introduce a .movie top level domain name. According to the amended complaint, TCI has now paid the full amount ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Report: Former ICANN Executive Joining Obama Administration - Andrew McLaughlin to be deputy chief technology officer. The New York Times is reporting that former ICANN executive and current Google head of global public policy Andrew McLaughlin is joining the Obama administration as deputy chief technology officer. He will report to chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra. McLaughlin joined Google about five years ago. Before that he was an executive with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, holding the position ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ccTLD Danger: Argentina to Take Away .AR Domain Names - ccTLDs carry lots of risks with the rewards. With TRAFFIC ccTLDs just around the corner, it’s only fitting that another example of the risks of registering country code domain names should pop up this month. As spotted by Internet Commerce Association, The Argentina Ministry of Foreign affairs is limiting the number of com.ar and org.ar domain names that any one entity can register to 200. The organization is doing this because it believes there is abuse of the ... read more ...