Tag Archives: legal

Tue 18th March 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Leggo My Eggo! Kellogg Loses Domain Dispute - Food company Kellogg has lost a battle for the domain Eggo.com. Kellogg North America Company, which sells frozen waffles under the “Eggo” brand, has lost a domain dispute for the domain Eggo.com. In its dispute before National Arbitration Forum, Kellogg asserted that the domain name was for sale since it was registered in 2001, probably referring to an Archive.org image of the site that showed the domain for sale at DomainDeluxe. But Kellogg didn’t check ... read more ...
Mon 17th March 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Trademark Applications for “Domain” - A look at some of the more interesting trademark applications including the word “domain”. Filing a trademark or service mark in the United States is fairly affordable, costing as little as a few hundred dollars if you only have one class of goods or services. Here’s a look at some accepted and rejected trademarks including the word “domain”. GoDaddys Domains.com: Graham R Clark of Conroe, Texas plopped down $325 for this application, claiming a first use ... read more ...
Wed 12th March 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Scam: US Copyright Registry - Another scam is making its rounds. Stay alert. I just received an email to my whois address with an official-looking notice from the so-called “US Copyright Registry”. Looks official, sounds official, but it isn’t. It’s just the latest scam to target domain name owners. The notice reads in part: Please be advised that the above noted website has not been protected and is now available for copyright registration ———————————————————- IN ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
EFF: Anti-Phishing Bill “A Free Speech Double Whammy” - Internet freedom group points out several flaws in bill. Electronic Freedom Foundation, a respected organization for promoting free speech and consumer protection on the internet, has spoken out against Senator Snowe’s so-called Anti-Phishing bill, calling it “A Free Speech Double Whammy.” EFF staff member Corynne McSherry points out several problems with the bill: -Does little to protect noncommercial and comparative advertising uses of trademarks -Gives a ... read more ...
Mon 10th March 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Interview with Ted Stevens Regarding Phishing Bill - A conversation with Ted Stevens (R-AK), a co-sponsor of “Anti-Phishing Consumer Protection Act of 2008”. [Editors note: I recently had a chance to catch up with Senator Ted Stevens on an all-expense paid hunting trip courtesy of ExxonMobile. He was kind enough to answer a few questions about the so-called anti-phishing bill.] Domain Name Wire (DNW): Senator Stevens, it’s such a pleasure to be on this trip with you. Ted Stevens: Yeah, well my aides told ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Cease & Desist Sent to Domain Owner Based on Redirect Service - Cease desist letter claims infringement based on ISP’s redirect service. Anyone who owns generic acronym domain names is well aware of the possibility of receiving a cease desist letter from someone claiming rights to it. This is particularly prevalent with three and four character domain names, for which any number of companies may hold a trademark or at least use the acronym. Some domain owners completely disable their acronym domains rather than park them, ... read more ...
Thu 6th March 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Name Appraisal Scam Resurfaces - Yep, I got one too tonight… Email1 —————————————— Head-office@bonbon.net to me Hello, We have seen your domain listed for sale. What are your expectations in Euros or US dollars? We are in real estate but invest in web project too. We have a solid investing budget and our company is very interested in Internet names and web sites. If you have other domains for sale feel free to send your list. Looking forward to do business with you. Regards, Gilbert Reuter CEO BON ... read more ...
Tue 4th March 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Shoppers.com in Dispute? Also GoogleAdwords.com and Ace.us - Expired domain that sold for $166,000 slapped with arbitration filing. Shoppers.com expired last month and was picked up by Pool. Auction winner Xedoc Holding SA forked over $166,000 for the domain, but is that now at risk? An arbitration request under UDRP was filed with National Arbitration Forum on February 14 for the domain. I’m not sure who filed the complaint, but a little snooping gives some ideas. One idea is the previous owner of the domain may be ... read more ...
Mon 3rd March 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Register.com Goes After Register.cc - Company files arbitration case with National Arbitration Forum. Domain registrar Register.com has filed a UDRP against another ICANN-accredited domain registrar, DomainIt, for its use of Register.cc. DomainIt, which manages 22,354 domains according to RegistrarStats, currently forwards register.cc to its main web site. This is an interesting case on a couple grounds. First, it’s rare to see two ICANN-accredited registrars on opposing sides of a UDRP arbitration. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Senate Anti-Phishing Bill (or Reverse Cybersquatting in Disguise) - What you can do about a bill that will hurt your domain assets. Over the past week a lot has been written about the Senate’s so-called anti-phishing bill. On February 25, 2008 U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe introduced S. 2661, the “Anti-Phishing Consumer Protection Act of 2008” (APCPA). The bill is also cosponsored by Senators Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Ted Stevens (R-AK). This isn’t a bill to stop phishing. It’s a bill to give people another avenue to take ... read more ...
Thu 28th February 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Tucows Fights off Car Dealership - Tucows wins UDRP decision for Batchelor.com. Domain registrar Tucows has successfully defended against an arbitration proceeding over the domain name Batchelor.com, which the registrar acquired with its NetIdentity purchase. NetIdentity holds nearly 40,000 surnames and offers email addresses at those names, such as tom@lastname.com. The complaint was filed by Ken Batchelor Cadillac Company, a car dealership in San Antonio, Texas. The National Arbitration Forum panel ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy Spends $580,000 on Federal Lobbying - Domain registrar spends big bucks to lobby on capitol hill. Domain registrar GoDaddy.com spent $580,000 in federal lobbying last year, according to data obtained by Domain Name Wire from the Center for Responsive Politics. This is up from $460,000 spent in 2006. GoDaddy set up a full time presence in Washington D.C. by the fall of 2006. In general, GoDaddy’s efforts in Washington appear to by pro-domainer, including testifying against VeriSign’s price increases. ... read more ...
Tue 26th February 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
America (In Parked Domains) - There are lots of parked domains out there. So I’m going to use them in this article to disguise a commentary that really has nothing to do with domain names. It’s election year in the United States. That means countless commercials promising a “better America” and lots of political pandering to the masses. The state of America isn’t so grand right now. There’s talk of recession and the stock market has plunged over the past 2 months. There’s a ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
The IRS Cares What Type of Domainer You Are - Guest author Sandy K. Brooks, CPA writes about tax implications for domainers. [Editors note: Don’t look at the calendar…tax day in the U.S. is less than two months away. If you’re puzzled about how to treat domains on your tax return, this article by Sandy Brooks, CPA, will help you. Brooks is the author of Domain Tax Guide, which has been updated for 2008.] When discussing the tax implications of domaining, the first question that is often asked is, “Are ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy Files Patent for Filtering Ads on Trademark Domains - Technology could be crucial to registrars and parking companies. GoDaddy has filed a patent for a technology that would filter ads from domain names containing trademarks. Patent application #20080033822 reads: invention allow for filtering online advertisements containing third-party trademarks. In an example embodiment, a webpage host may host a webpage that resolves from a domain name. A check trademark service may parse the domain name into a keyword that an ... read more ...
Fri 22nd February 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Theglobe.com To Sell .Travel Domain Name Registry - Company enters into letter of intent to sell subsidiary. Theglobe.com (TGLO.ob) has signed a letter of intent to sell its Tralliance subsidiary. Tralliance is the registry for .travel domain names. Sounds simple enough, but this incestuous deal is complicated enough to make your head spin. The .travel registry almost went bankrupt last year before it was bailed out by majority shareholder Michael Egan. But then Egan was involved in a number of insider dealings ... read more ...
Sat 9th February 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Time Warner, Yahoo Team Up to Cybersquat - Companies join the ranks of big corporations redirecting “error” traffic. Time Warner’s Road Runner internet service has teamed up with Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) to typosquat on millions of unregistered domain names. The feature from the two companies is called “Web Address Error Redirect Service” and automatically sends web users to a page full of search ads if they type in a web address that does not exist. It appears to override customer’s own preferences ... read more ...
Wed 30th January 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Google Duped Us - Google is smart, and it proved it with its “we are not evil” approach to domain kiting. I knew those engineers at Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) were smart. But they also have smart PR skills. Last week, Google decided to let the world know it was going to stop monetizing kited domains — those domains that are continually dropped and re-registered during the 5 day registration grace period. It found a mule to report this to the world and show how Google was a great ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
CADNA Releases Report on Domain Name Drop Catching - Special interest group suggests that non-refundable $.20 fee is not enough to stop domain tasting. The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) released a report today about expired domain drop catching. It’s an interesting report and contains good data, although I don’t agree with all of its conclusions. CADNA hired Zooknic to study 17,000 randomly selected domains dropping on September 18, 2007. Of those names, 100% of the .net and .com domains released ... read more ...
Fri 11th January 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Tucows CEO on Network Solutions, Front Running - Tucows discusses Network Solutions “customer protection measure” and front running. It’s been a few days since news first broke about Network Solutions’ new practice of reserving any domain searched for on its site. A lot of industry observers have weighed in on the practice, but most registrars have been relatively quiet. I talked with Tucows (AMEX:TCX, TSX:TC) President and CEO Elliot Noss today, and he’s not shy about his position. “For me this is ... read more ...
Wed 9th January 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Editorial: Where Network Solutions Went Wrong - If Network Solutions had good intentions, then it had a very poor implementation. Yesterday was media-frenzy day in the domain world. Thanks to a thread on DomainState and article at Domain Name News, major media outlets picked up on the story of how Network Solutions is reserving all .com domains searched for by its customers. Domain Name News’ server melted down with traffic, and DomainNameWire ran slow all day. If you missed it, here’s the story. I didn’t ... read more ...
Tue 8th January 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Network Solutions Faces PR Nightmare Over Domain FrontRunning - Domain registrar locks domains searched on its site. [Update: see Editorial: Where Network Solutions Went Wrong] Network Solutions has implemented a program that locks users from registering domains with other registrars. According to the company, it’s goal is to keep criminals from “frontrunning” domains searched at its site. Here’s the deal, as reported at DomainState and a couple blogs: If you try to register a domain at Network Solutions, but decide ... read more ...
Mon 7th January 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
David Beats Goliath, Dori Media International Loses Battle for Domain - Dori Media International called out for Reverse Domain Hijacking by WIPO arbitrator. Fred McCaw was a bit late to the domain market. Getting started in 1999, he realized all of the good english-language domains were registered. So he registered generic domains in foreign languages, including his native Filipino. The first domain he registered was Rebelde.com, which means “rebel” in Spanish and Filipino. Over the holidays McCaw successfully defended a reverse ... read more ...
Fri 28th December 2007
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Reverse Cybersquatting in Las Vegas - Cosmopolitan Resort Casino goes after owner of CosmopolitanResort.com. Las Vegas has always been a high stakes town. A recent lawsuit suggests it’s also high stakes for domain names. In an obvious case of “reverse cybersquatting”, a new resort and casino in Las Vegas is going after the owner of CosmopolitanResort.com. Ryan Gile, a Las Vegas trademark attorney, writes about the saga on his blog. Here are the facts: 1. Tim Griffin, a domain investor, registered ... read more ...
Thu 27th December 2007
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Gmail Hack Leads to Domain Theft - Gmail flaw leads to theft of domain name; GoDaddy steps in to return domain. A “cracker”* used a deficiency in Gmail to steal a domain name this month. The theft was of DavidAirey.com, a popular graphic designer’s personal site that attracts a couple thousand unique visitors a day. So how did it happen, and what can you do to protect yourself? Furthermore, how could a popular domainer site lead to even more lost domains? First, here’s how it happened in ... read more ...