Tag Archives: legal

Thu 28th May 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
First .Tel UDRP Will Be Important - Dispute over osram.tel will test new top level domain. Osram GmbH has filed the first ever UDRP dispute for a .tel domain name, going after the domain Osram.tel. This should be an interesting case because of the differences between .tel and other top level domain names. In a UDRP, the complainant must prove three things: 1. The domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the Complainant has rights 2. The Respondent has ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
BlackBerry Wins 101 Domain Names in Single UDRP Case - Smartphone maker gains 101 domain names in single dispute. When it comes to getting bang for your buck in domain name arbitration, Research in Motion may have just set the bar. In a single UDRP case filed at World Intellectual Property Organization, the BlackBerry maker won 101 domains (and was denied 10 others). BlackBerry filed the complaint against Georges Elias, who registered all 111 domains at GoDaddy. Elias’ imaginative registration spree included domains ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Editorial: Why I’m Opposed to New Top Level Domains - The risks of releasing hundreds of new TLDs at once outweigh the benefits. It’s no secret that I’m generally opposed to introducing new top level domain names. And I’m not alone. Even before people started talking about a mass introduction of new TLDs, most of the domain name industry was opposed to new TLDs. I’ve asked the question on every Domain Name Wire survey for the past four years, and the no’s always beat the yes’. But I think it’s important ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sigourney Weaver Wins Domain Name Dispute - Actress Sigourney Weaver picks up her namesake domain name. Actress Sigourney Weaver has been awarded the domain name SigourneyWeaver.com by an arbitration panel at National Arbitration Forum. She filed the claim last month. The owner of the domain name, Stephen Gregory, did not respond to the allegations. Weaver’s complaint stated that Gregory forwarded the domain name to a porn site until the complaint was received, at which time the forward was removed. The ... read more ...
Wed 27th May 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
NBC Wants Tonight Show Domain Names - Jay Leno is attempting to aquire three domain names thru World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), among them is “TheJayLenoShow.com”. The question is: is he entitled to it? Although the domain name incorporates his name, all proof indicates he has sold his name to his employer NBC, Inc. GE, parent company of NBC, Inc. owns, not only JaLeno.com, but also JayLenosGarage.com. GE aquired JayLeno.com last year, details of the aquisition were not released, but by looking at the ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New Top Level Domain Demand Still Elusive - Hard to prove demand for new top level domain names One of the key questions facing ICANN and the internet community is if there is any demand for new top level domain names should they be released. So far no one has released convincing evidence of demand. And if past TLD launches are any indication, demand will be minimal. One company, Quintaris, has taken a stab at proving demand by allowing people to ‘backorder’ new domains at Pool. These backorders are ... read more ...
Tue 26th May 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Firm Wants to Be “Your Lawyer” (and Wants a Domain Names, Too) - Arbitration panel finds Parker Waichman Alonso LLP overstepping its bounds. New York law firm Parker Waichman Alonso LLP has two registered trademarks that include the term “YourLawyer”: yourlawyer.com on the principal register and YourLawyer on the supplemental register. It’s trying to make a land grab online for domains that include “YourLawyer” in them. The law firm just lost a case at National Arbitration Forum for the domain YourLawyer.tv, which is ... read more ...
Thu 21st May 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Weblo Files Patent for Virtual Domain Names - Company files patent on “virtual domain names”. Weblo, a company that sells virtual property such as states, celebrities, and even domain names in a parallel universe, has filed a patent covering its so-called “virtual domain names”. The patent (pdf) was filed in 2007 and published today. Of course, Weblo’s domain names don’t really work on the web. They are merely a page on the Weblo.com’s web site. Weblo describes its domain names as: Weblo has ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Another Silly Patent Application: 104 Domains - Company tries to patent geo-targeted directory that starts with “104”. Apparently it’s kooky patent day. This morning I wrote about a company trying to patent “virtual domain names“. Another patent application published today (pdf) is for a geo-targeted directory made up of domain names starting with “104”. Here’s the problem the patent tries to address, according to its author: Due to the recent hype, over 128 million domain names have been registered ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Newt Gingrich’s Lawyer Blames Tucows for Tweet - Gringrich’s lawyer confused about Twitter. Here’s a funny cease desist letter that shows how many politicians still don’t understand modern technology. The cease desist was targeted to a Twitter user as well as Tucows (AMEX: TCX). Twitter user EFCANOW tweeted “Join @newtgingrich @sanuzis in signing the EFCA Freedom Not Fear petition at http://action.americanright… WSJ.” (Gingrich is opposed to EFCA.) Gingrich’s lawyer then fired off a cease desist ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Senators Push for Strickling to Keep Eye on ICANN - Incoming NTIA chief asked to keep close eye on ICANN agreement. U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe (of the infamous “Snowe Bill” ), R-Maine, and Bill Nelson, D-Fla, are pushing for incoming National Telecommunications Information Administration chief Larry Strickling to keep a watchful eye on ICANN, reports Nextgov. NTIA is currently requesting comments regarding what should happen to the Joint Project Agreement between the U.S. government and ICANN that expires September ... read more ...
Wed 20th May 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Battle Erupts Between Domain Registries and Registrars - Existing registries fight registrars over registry-registrar separation. Registries: In this corner we have three registry providers, Public Interest Registry, Afilias, and NeuStar. They provide the backend and management of domain names such as .org, .biz, and .info, that are sold to customers by registrars. Registrars: In this corner we have domain name registrars hoping to profit from the release of new top level domain names. Issue: Until now, there have been ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Financial Firm Loses Bid for OVB.com - Arbitrator rules against large financial firm trying to get three character domain name. A World Intellectual Property Organization arbitrator has ruled against OVB Vermögensberatung AG of Köln, a financial firm based in Germany, in a dispute over the domain name OVB.com. The arbitrator decided that it was not clear the domain was registered and used in bad faith. Working against the respondent, Michele Dinoia, was that he has been on the losing end of a number ... read more ...
Tue 19th May 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Bank of America Gets Split Decision in Domain Name Dispute - Company awarded 2 of 4 domain names related to Merrill Lynch acquisition. It’s not often that I read a domain name arbitration decision and think a cybersquatter won. But that’s the case with a recent decision handed down through National Arbitration Forum. A New York company registered four domain names last year related to Bank of America’s (NYSE: BAC) acquisition: bofaml.com, mlbofa.com, bofamerrill.com, and merrillbofa.com. When you look at these four ... read more ...
Mon 18th May 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
SAP Loses Another Domain Name Case - Software giant goes after SAP consulting company and loses. Enterprise software company SAP (NYSE: SAP) has lost another domain name dispute. The company went after the domain name Unisap.com, which has been used by a provider of SAP consulting services for almost a decade. The arbitrator decided that SAP had not proven the domain name was registered and used in bad faith: The Panel has also considered the purpose of the UDRP, namely to prevent the abusive registration ... read more ...
Sun 17th May 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
“The Privatization of a English Language” & Why That is Very Bad News For You - Over at ZenHabits, a insanely popular blog with an Alex Ranking of 15K , Leo Babauta, the author talked about what appears to be the privatization of the English language through trademark and copyrights. This is an important article for all domainers to read. Ordinary words, terms and phrases long used in the English language are now the subject of trademarks, copyrights and other claims of ownership causing problems for domainers, authors and bloggers. The blog post discusses that the author received ... read more ...
Fri 15th May 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Google Changes Its Policy To Allow Advertisers To Use Trademark Terms In Ad Text - The other day we wrote about Google announcing a new policy that would allow advertisers to buy trademarked keywords.  We also wrote about a class action suit that was filed this week against Google for similar conduct. Today Google went a step further and announced that not only can you buy keywords for trademarked terms, but you can under certain circumstances, advertisers can now use trademarked terms in the text of there ad, which represents a major shift in policy for Google. Here is the full ... read more ...
Wed 13th May 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Class Action Suit Filed Against Google For Selling Trademarked Keywords - I know your thinking this must be the all Google blog this week, but everyday news is coming out on Google and today’s is not good. As we wrote yesterday, Google announced the further expansion of its policy regarding allowing rivals to buy keywords under trademarked terms in up  to 200 countries (you can read that post here). Today it appears, Google is facing a new lawsuit for allowing companies to use trademarks to trigger pay-per-click ads. (It does not appear Google knew of this suit when ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN.gone? Internet Battle Set for this Fall - U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) questions future of DNS management. ICANN’s Joint Project Agreement (JPA) with the U.S. government ends in September, and already countries around the world are asking that control of the domain name system be pulled from the U.S. There are sure to be big battles ahead. NTIA is seeking public comment (pdf) on ICANN and the termination of the JPA. In reality, ICANN ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Thought Convergence Sues Westerdal - Company sued Name Intelligence founder Westerdal on May 1 over $16M deal gone wrong. Earlier today we reported about a riff between Thought Convergence and Jay Westerdal, founder of Name Intelligence. I was just tipped off to a lawsuit filed by Thought Convergence against Westerdal earlier this month. Defendants also include Per Westerdal, Ray Bero, and Cameron Jones. The complaint is for alleged breach of securities exchange agreement, breach of employment and ... read more ...
Tue 12th May 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Tucows Gets “Victory” in Domain Dispute - Panel refuses to hear case due to lawsuit. Tucows (AMEX: TCX) appears to be joining a chorus of domain name owners who are bypassing UDRP and filing lawsuits in response to domain disputes. In a recent case DNA (Housemarks) Limited, owner of the Dunlop brand famous for automotive tires, filed for arbitration at World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to get the domain name Dunlop.com. Dunlop.com is part of OpenSRS Personal Names Service, which uses thousands ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Anteaters Fail to Eat Ant.com - Attorney John Berryhill successfully defends Ant.com in UDRP case. Attorney John Berryhill has defended big animals such as Elephant.com. He’s even defended swine flu-carrying animals such as Pig.com. But he must have really set aside his ego to defend a tiny little pest in Ant.com. Nonetheless, he won. The complainant was Atlanta Network Technologies, Inc., which operates ANTonline.com. The respondent was ANT.COM Limited, which offers search functionality and ... read more ...
Fri 8th May 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New Top Level Domain Names Delayed - Applications won’t be accepted until early 2010. Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has pushed back its estimated time frame to start accepting applications for new top level domains. ICANN had hoped to accept applications by December 2009, but now admits the process won’t start until first quarter of 2010. ICANN hopes to address overarching concerns about new TLDs at its next meeting in Sydney and then publish the third draft of the ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Man Claims Rights to .NYC, .Movies, and More - New Yorker says he already uses 118 top level domains. I thought I had heard it all about new TLDs until I read this article in The Villager. Now that a new process for top level domain names is underway, Paul Garrin and his company Name.Space claims that it already “owns” many top level domain names including .nyc, .food, .sex, .movies, and .hotel. Garrin and his company wanted to launch over nearly 500 top level domain names before ICANN even existed. He then ... read more ...
Thu 7th May 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Tamiflu Maker Goes After Swine Flu Domain Names - Tamiflu maker files for arbitration to get swine flu domain names. Roche, maker of flu medicine Tamiflu, has filed two separate arbitration cases with World Intellectual Property Organization to get domain names related to its brand that are taking advantage of the swine flu outbreak. The first case is for swineflutamiflu.com and tamifluswineflu.com. Both domain names were registered last month by eComplex Corporation in Chicago. The domain names are parked. The ... read more ...