Tag Archives: legal

Tue 3rd June 2008
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
If Fantasy Leagues can use Famous Players names, because can’t domainers? - The Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case also throws into question any licensing deals already in place, something MLB had said amounted to “billions of dollars.” When MLB appealed to the high court in February, it argued that such deals could be jeopardized if companies had a free-speech right to use the names of famous people without permission. The St. Louis-based fantasy league operator that brought the lawsuit successfully countered that ballplayers are well-known to the public so ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Premium .Mobi Domain Names Still Out of Compliance - Hello to all Domain Name Wire readers, Appreciate the posted commentary on .mobi domain compliance and auction results status. As a key member of the .mobi ecosystem, our dotMobi Advisory Group (MAG); the dotMobi accredited, independent not-for-profit trade forum focused on .mobi domain policies, style guides and commercialisation efforts; has started a .mobi Compliance Task Force. The goal for the task force is to further evaluate and recommend compliance policies, and encourage the ... read more ...
Fri 30th May 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New York Shuts Down Affiliate Businesses - Affiliate law sends e-commerce companies running for the hills. New York residents already feel the pain of high taxes. But now the state has basically shut down many of its resident’s businesses that rely on affiliate revenue, including domain name owners. In an effort to collect more tax revenue, the state decided that companies (namely Amazon.com) that have affiliates in the state technically “have a place of business” in the state. Thus, they are required ... read more ...
Thu 29th May 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
UniversityofTexas.com Handed Over to University - After filing UDRP, owner of domain hands it over. Last month I wrote about a UDRP arbitration request by The University of Texas, which was seeking to get the domain name UniversityofTexas.com. After The University of Texas’ Board of Regents filed the UDRP with National Arbitration Forum, owner Global Access decided to hand it over. According to the decision, “Respondent has no desire to retain the domain name or to interfere with Complainant’s asserted mark. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Acronym Domain Name Owners Stave Off Attacks - Owners of three and four character domain names win UDRP decisions. Owning short domain names comes with risks. They are prized domains, and many people want to get their hands on them. The owner of Ace.com recently won its case, but the assaults continue. Here are several recent cases that domain owners managed to win. ANU.com In this case, a company you’ve probably never heard of — Anu Enterprises — went after domain owner DomainRegistry.com. Anu Enterprises ... read more ...
Tue 27th May 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sk-Rt.com Does a “Kirtsy” - Site gives into domain pressure and changes name. I first wrote about Sk*rt last November, when I said the company should win the grand prize for worst domain name ever (sk-rt.com). I predicted that Skirt Magazine, which ran Skirt.com, would go after Sk*rt.com, and it did. But I also said this would be a dumb move. If Skirt Magazine didn’t run straight to its lawyer, it would have realized it was seeing lots of free traffic from people who were confused by Sk*rt’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Verizon Sued Over Error Redirects - Communications company will have to defend its DNS wildcarding practices. It looked like a slam dunk case for Verizon (NYSE: VZ) when it sued Navigation Catalyst Systems, Inc. for trademark infringement. Navigation Catalyst owns a number of domains similar to Verizon’s marks. But Navigation Catalyst found this to be a perfect opportunity to point out that Verizon is a hypocrite. It filed counterclaims citing Verizon’s error redirect system that monetizes typos ... read more ...
Sun 25th May 2008
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
When we Travel to a US Your Laptop and Cell Phone are Subject to Search and Seizure - Most of us domainers travel quite a bit to shows, for business or pleasure and when we go, our Laptop and Cell phone goes with. In light of the upcoming Domainers Meeting in Paris and the ICANN meeting next month, I know a lot of US based domainers are travelling out of the country. A recent article in Laptop Magazine reminded me of an important legal issue that I have never seen discussed anywhere in the Domainer community. When you come into the United States your laptop and cell phone, along with ... read more ...
Sat 17th May 2008
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
State of a Law of .in domains - The inforum published an interview with Pravin Anand, a leading IP attorney in india. In the interview he laid out the state of the law in india regarding .in domains and is an interesting read for anyone holding .in domains or considering entering that market: Here is the reprint: Pravin Anand is known as the leading IP lawyer in India. So, I’m very excited and thankful to Mr. Anand for taking some time out of his busy schedule to clarify the often mysterious law regarding domains in India. You ... read more ...
Fri 16th May 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Baylor Bears Go Hunting for Baylor.com - Texas university files UDRP to get Baylor.com domain name. Baylor University, a Christian school in Waco, Texas, has filed a UDRP arbitration to get the domain name Baylor.com. The school’s official web address is Baylor.edu. Baylor has had a good UDRP winning streak lately. The conservative university has won seven cases for dozens of domains already this year. Among the domains it has won are BaylorBears.biz, IHateBaylor.com, and BaylorSalsa.com. It has a ... read more ...
Wed 14th May 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Frank Schilling’s Defensive Patent - Legendary domainer’s patent-pending system could fend off ISP redirects. On April 24, 2006, domain name portfolio owner Frank Schilling filed a patent application for “Generic top-level domain re-routing system” with the help of attorney John Berryhill. This patent, if granted, could end up being very important to the domain name industry. Patent application 20060265516 describes a system for redirecting typos of domain names, such as a typo of the .com portion ... read more ...
Mon 5th May 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Canada Leading a Way with Whois Changes - .Ca is getting a whois overhaul. Perhaps the rest of the domain world can use it as a framework. There have been a number of suggested changes to ICANN’s whois framework. But Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is making changes to its .ca country code on its own. Canada-based domain registrar Tucows (AMEX: TCX) is reporting that CIRA will make sweeping changes to its whois policies on June 10: -Whois registrant data will be made private by default. ... read more ...
Thu 1st May 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
How to Save UDRP from Bad Panel Decisions - A proposal to rectify bad UDRP decisions when there is dissenting opinion. If you read any of the domain blogs and forums out there, you probably read about the recent LH.com UDRP decision courtesy of a three person panel at National Arbitration Forum. The panel handed over the generic domain name LH.com to airline Lufthansa. Apparently two of the panelists (Hon. Carolyn Marks Johnson and David Tatham) didn’t find the irony in their acknowledgment that LH.com’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Not Everyone Will Be Welcome during TRAFFIC East - Don’t take the headline too literally. Read on. I just booked my plane tickets to this month’s TRAFFIC conference at Disney World. It should be a great event with wonderful surroundings. But there are handful of people who probably won’t be welcome at this event: Disney cybersquatters. “Disney” is certainly one of the most cybersquatted brands. In particular, typosquatting is rampant because many of the people looking for Disney sites are kids. A quick ... read more ...
Tue 29th April 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy Allows Transfers After Whois Changes - GoDaddy complies with ICANN advisory for transferring domain names. Last September I wrote that GoDaddy might have to end its controversial practice of denying transfers-out when a domain owner changes whois information in the preceding 60 days. A few weeks ago ICANN finalized the advisory that I wrote about, and it seems to target GoDaddy specifically. The advisory basically says that registrars can’t deny transfer requests due to changes in whois information, ... read more ...
Thu 24th April 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Seinfeld Isn’t Laughing about JerrySeinfeld.com - Comedian files arbitration request to get hands on domain name. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld or his management company or Sony is going after the domain name JerrySeinfeld.com, currently owned by Anything.com LTD. The case commenced on April 22 and will be handled by National Arbitration Forum. At first glance, JerrySeinfeld.com looks like a fan site. It has the slogan “An Unofficial Fan site” and includes a bio of the comedian and links to a couple other sites devoted ... read more ...
Thu 17th April 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
University of Texas Goes After Domain Name - University files arbitration for UniversityOfTexas.com. The University of Texas System (my alma mater) has filed an arbitration under UDRP to obtain the domain name UniversityofTexas.com. The arbitration was filed with National Arbitration Forum on April 11. The University of Texas has shown is savvy when it comes to domain names. The official domain name for the UT-Austin campus is UTexas.edu, but The University also owns UTexas.com (which forwards to UTexas.edu). ... read more ...
Fri 11th April 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Ace.com Owner Wins Arbitration - After $450,000 offer rejected, ACE Limited filed and lost UDRP arbitration. WebMagic Ventures, owner of Ace.com, has won an arbitration brought against it by ACE Limited, an insurance company. This is an extraordinary case given the value of the underlying domain name and egregious assertions brought by ACE Limited. However, the panel could not charge ACE Limited with reverse domain name hijacking. This is just one of many three character domain names currently ... read more ...
Thu 10th April 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Buyer of $166,000 Shoppers.com Can Keep Domain Name - Domain was purchased in backorder; buyer wins arbitration. Imagine buying a domain for $166,000 through a backorder only to be hit with a UDRP arbitration dispute a day later. That’s exactly what happened to Xedoc Holding SA, which bought Shoppers.com at Pool in February. The domain was previously registered at Network Solutions, but was not auctioned at NameJet due to a glitch. As we reported last month, a UDRP commenced on February 14, 2008 for the domain ... read more ...
Fri 4th April 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
YouTube Chases Down YouTube.net - Google files arbitration for Youtube.net. Google (GOOG) and its YouTube division have filed for arbitration under UDRP to get control of the YouTube.net domain name. YouTube.net’s whois record currently shows an owner in China, and the domain appears to have bounced around between a couple different owners over the past year. When this happens, and especially when the whois information may be bogus, trademark owners have few options to get control other than ... read more ...
Thu 3rd April 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sk*rt Skirts Losing Its Domain - Company with miserable domain name wins arbitration. I wrote about Sk*rt, pronounced skirt, and its horrible domain name sk-rt.com last November. I don’t need to go into the details about why this is such a bad name, but I hypothesized that the owners of Skirt.com would go after Sk-rt.com: Not only is Sk*rt sending typo traffic to Skirt.com, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Skirt.com sued Sk*rt. My advice would be to not do this; just sit back and enjoy the steady ... read more ...
Thu 27th March 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Breaking: VeriSign Hikes Domain Prices Again - Company to hike .com and .net prices for second year in a row. Domain Name Wire has obtained a copy of communications sent to registrars today regarding VeriSign’s (NASDAQ: VRSN) next rate hike for .com and .net domain names. It is copied below. ___________________ March 27, 2008 VIA Email and Express Delivery Re: Notice of Fee Change To All Registrars, VeriSign, Inc. and it’s wholly owned subsidiaries (“VNDS”) is hereby notifying all registrars of a fee ... read more ...
Mon 24th March 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
How to Protect Your 3 Character Domain Names - Own a three character domain? You need to play defense. Three letter domain names are valuable. But owning them carries risk: since so many companies have three character acronyms, they often feel they are entitled to your domain. The number of pending and recently settled claims on three character domains is staggering. Here are just a handful I found today: Ace.com Ace.us Dsn.com Rcu.net (claim denied) Own.tv Ucp.com (transferred, domain may have been stolen) Pao.com Kpn.info Tcn.com Cbq.com Cbq.net Cbq.org All.com It’s ... read more ...
Thu 20th March 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Register.com Loses Register.cc Battle - Battle of the registrars goes to “the little guy”. In terms of size, Register.com is Goliath and Domain-It is David. According to RegistrarStats.com, Register.com controls 2,635,000 domains compared to Domain-It’s 25,000. But David prevailed in an arbitration filed under UDRP by Register.com for the domain Register.cc (first covered on Domain Name Wire here.) The three person panel found that, while the domain is identical to Register.com’s trademark, ... read more ...
Wed 19th March 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Your Florida Tax Dollars during Work: flhsmv.gov - Florida changes domain name for drivers license site. But it’s still bad. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles changed its domain name this month from hsmv.state.fl.us to flhsmv.gov. OK, so that’s an improvement, but wow that sucks. According to Electra Bustle, the department’s executive director, “This new address is easier to remember and will help identify the department as a government organization.” Hmmm. The original address ... read more ...