Tag Archives: legal

Mon 23rd June 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Cleveland Clinic’s .Med domain name focus is behind on a table - Medistry’s application for .Med is alive and well following a decision Friday by ICANN. ICANN ruled that the Independent Objector should not have been able to file a community objection against Medistry’s application because there were no informal objections to the application. Medistry is backed by Cleveland Clinic. I described Medistry’s appeal in detail in this prior post. Medistry provided letters from two groups that were thought to have objected to its ... read more ...
Fri 20th June 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
UDRPsearch owners sues after being threatened with UDRP - Virtual Point sues after person threatens UDRP if it doesn’t sell a domain for $1,000. The owner of UDRP database site UDRPSearch.com has filed a federal lawsuit (pdf) after being threatened with a UDRP. Virtual Point Inc filed the lawsuit after an individual tried to buy the domain name ALFinancial.com and allegedly threatened to file a UDRP if Virtual Point did not agree to a low price. According to the filing, Joseph Rosenzweig contacted the plaintiff about acquiring ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Vistaprint might have only behind .Web by filing an Independent Review - Vistaprint challenges (again) string similarity between .web and .webs. What does this man for the .web timeline? Vistaprint is the latest new top level domain name applicant to invoke the Independent Review process regarding an application. The company is upset that a domain it applied for, .webs, has been placed in a contention set with Web.com’s bid for .web following a string similarity objection. It already filed (and lost) a Board Governance Committee “appeal” ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Michael Berkens wins UDRP box involving dual colorful lawyers - Randazza and Berryhill square off over X-Videos.com. Two of the most colorful lawyers in the trademark/UDRP business squared off in a UDRP over one of Michael Berkens’ domain names. Marc Randazza’s law firm represented WGCZ S.R.O., which filed a UDRP over Berkens’ domain name X-Videos.com. John Berryhill represented Berkens. Anyone familiar with the work of Randazza and Berryhill would expect rather colorful submissions by each party. Indeed, the three person ... read more ...
Thu 19th June 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Several general domains strike with UDRPs recently - A handful of generics are hit with UDRPs, and one previous complainant called me… I’ve noticed a handful of seemingly generic domain names get his with UDRPs over the past few days. Here are some that have hit my radar: southpaw.com qiq.com verb.com emoney.com There can always be extenuating circumstances behind a UDRP filing, such as domain theft. But on the face of it these look like losing cases. That brings up something interesting that happened over the weekend. ... read more ...
Tue 17th June 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Over 2,200 purebred for 50th ICANN assembly in London subsequent week - Over 2,200 people have registered for next week’s ICANN meeting. Next week’s ICANN meeting in London is sure to be big. And not just because it’s the big 5-0. The 50th ICANN meeting, which officially kicks off on Sunday, June 22, already has 2,200 registered attendees. I’m one of those 2,200. I haven’t been to an ICANN meeting in a while, and here’s why I picked this next one to attend: 1. It’s in London. It’s a world city that’s easy to get to from ... read more ...
Mon 16th June 2014
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
This Is Why There Needs To Be A Penalty For Someone Bringing A Groundless URS - Talk about a waste of time and money. You probably will never find a better case for providing a penalty for someone who brings a groundless Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) proceeding than this one. As you may know unlike the UDRP which at least carries a potential “penalty” in the form of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH) a URS carries no similar “penalty” In this case the URS involved a three letter generic new gTLD domain. The domain name Bas.Graphics was registered by QA Graphics of ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
HP employees threatened aspirant Splunk? - Competitor says HP employees and consultant set up websites and social media accounts to disparage it…and then crossed the line with physical threats. I’ve read a lot of bizarre domain name disputes, but two recent ones involving an HP employee take it to another level. Big data company Splunk just won two UDRP domain name disputes against the domain names DontGetSplunked.com and SplunkFail.com. Splunk alleged that these were basically part of a grassroots campaign ... read more ...
Thu 12th June 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Egton loses Patient.com UDRP, though it should have been retreat domain name hijacking - Egton Medical loses big time, but panel doesn’t admonish it for frivolous filing. Egton Medical Information Systems Limited has lost a UDRP it filed against Health Axis Group LLC in March over the domain name Patient.com. This was a particularly egregious filing and obvious abuse of the policy. The three person panel found that Egton Medical didn’t prove any of the three prongs of the UDRP. Egton also made ridiculous arguments, such as Health Axis Group’s ownership ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Wow: .Hotel row set resolved after CPE - .Hotel applicant wipes out competition by winning community status. In what is sure to be a shocker to many new TLD applicants, HOTEL Top-Level Domain s.a.r.l has prevailed in its Community Priority Evaluation for the .hotel domain name. It was the only applicant to elect community status and has now won the contention set. This means the other six applicants for .hotel, including Donuts, Minds + Machines, Famous Four and Radix, have lost their chance to run .hotel. The ... read more ...
Wed 11th June 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Why no RDNH for Thingify.com? - A classic abuse-of-proceeding case, but no RDNH finding. A WIPO panel just handed down a decision in a UDRP for Thingify.com. It follows a familiar story line: 1. Person starts company, but matching .com domain is taken. 2. Company opts to use a different extension, in this case Thingify.net. 3. Company then tries to buy .com but can’t strike a deal at the price it wants. 4. Company files a UDRP it has no chance of winning. In the case of Thingify, Inc, it knew ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Will WHOIS be assassinated? - 166 page report describes plan to completely scrap WHOIS as we know it. Last year I wrote about a plan to scrap Whois as we know it and replace it with a new Registration Directory Service (RDS). The initial proposal, created by an ICANN working group, was rather complicated and 49 pages long. Now the Expert Working Group has issued its final report. It weighs in at 166 pages and is sure to be a hot topic at the upcoming ICANN meeting in London. I read the executive ... read more ...
Fri 6th June 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Malaysian association guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking for Spritzer.com - Bottled water company guilty of reverse domain name hijacking. Chuan Sin Sdn. Bhd of Taiping, Perak, Malaysia has been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking in its attempt to get the domain name Spritzer.com through a UDRP. The complainant operates a bottled water company and uses the domain name Spritzer.com.my. (A “spritzer” in most parts of the world is a drink made of wine and carbonated water.) It tried to get a trademark for “spritzer” in the ... read more ...
Thu 5th June 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Del Monte appeals new tip turn domain name lawsuit - Battle over .delmonte continues. Del Monte International is taking a dispute over new top level domain names to the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Del Monte International (DMI) applied for the .delmonte domain name. Del Monte Corporation (DMC), which did not apply for .delmonte, filed a Legal Rights Objection against the application and won. (Both companies were once part of the same company, RJR Nabisco.) DMI subsequently filed a lawsuit against DMC to overturn ... read more ...
Fri 30th May 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Funniest UDRP. Ever. - This respondent is funny, and it has nothing to do with his response. Sometimes you have to go back to dig up gems, like this UDRP case from 2002. It was recently spotted by domain lawyer John Berryhill. The case involved the domain name wwwsportauthority.com, a typo of the sports retailer’s site. The respondent didn’t bother to respond to the case but still managed to make this case hilarious. Here are the parties in the case: Complainant is The Sports Authority ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
First ICANN “Auction of Last Resort” to take place subsequent week - First of many planned new top level domain name auctions to take place next week. It’s a last resort, and it kicks of next week. ICANN will hold its first new top level domain name auction next week to settle the contention set for .信息, which roughly translates to “information”. Afilias, the registry behind .info, will bid against Beijing Tele-info Network Technology Co., Ltd. for the name. At least seven auctions were originally scheduled to take place ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Kevin Ham successfully defends UDRP opposite SNF.com - SNF.com saved in UDRP decision. Kevin Ham’s company Vertical Axis has successfully defended a UDRP filed against its domain name SNF.com. S.P.C.M. SA filed the complaint. It appears to be affiliated with a company that owns SNF.fr. The complainant tried to argue that Vertical Axis was “willfully blind” to its trademark when it registered its domain. Of course, there are lots of companies and organizations that use three letter acronyms. Three letter domains ... read more ...
Wed 28th May 2014
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
After Not Spending $20 To Register His Domains, Attorney Sues WordPress, Google and Web.com - Jeffrey Wilens D/B/A Lakeshore Law Center filed a federal lawsuit today against Google, the parent company of Word Press Automatic, Inc, and the registrar TLDS L.L.C. which appears to be owned by Web.com for trademark infringement and violation of the ACPA on his common law marks of Jeffrey Wilens and Lakeshore Law Center along with a bunch of registrants referred to as “Does” The eight page complaint is in my opinion less than impressive. We will quote from the Complaint below but basically ... read more ...
Mon 26th May 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Frank Schilling defends URS opposite indifferent .sexy domain name - Uniform Rapid Sexy. When Frank Schilling released his first handful of new top level domain names he also held back tens of thousands of second level domain names for himself. These were registered in the name of North Sound Names. Since the domains aren’t just held back as premiums for registration but are actually registered, they are subject to URS proceedings. Schilling has successfully defended the first such proceeding against one of his domains, a URS for ... read more ...
Fri 23rd May 2014
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Interpol Takes Down Over 10,000 Websites and Targets Rogue Registrars - Interpol takes down over 10,000 websites and targets rogue domain name registrars. In what was the largest global operation ever for taking down bad pharmacies, Interpol included rogue registrars as one of the main areas used by those involved in illegal pharmaceuticals. Here is the full release: LYON, France – Nearly 200 enforcement agencies across 111 countries have taken part in Operation Pangea VII targeting criminal networks behind the sale of fake medicines via illicit online pharmacies. ... read more ...
Tue 20th May 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New TLDs and a miss of cost caps - Registries can jack up prices, but they must give notice. One issue many people think may be a ticking time bomb with consumers and new top level domain names is a lack of price controls. I was reminded of this today by some comments on another post. Most existing gTLDs have restrictions on how much the registry operator can increase prices each year. New TLDs don’t. Here’s the contract language: (b) With respect to renewal of domain name registrations, Registry ... read more ...
Mon 19th May 2014
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Oh Great, The US Proposes To Reduce The Cost & Renewing Most Trademarks - The U.S. Commerce Department’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposing to reduce fees for many new trademark applications and most renewals of registration. Under the NPRM, the fee for a new application filed using the regular Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) application form will be reduced $50, from the current fee of $325 to $275 per class, if the applicant authorizes e-mail communication with the USPTO and ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
FlyPrivate.com owners sues FlyPrvt.com over blank vowels - Company alleges competitor is infringing its trademarks by using vowel-less version of its own name. One of strangest ways companies have tried to cope with the lack of cheap available domain names in the past decade is to drop vowels. A prime example was Flickr.com, which dropped the ‘e’ to save a bit of money (though it later acquired Flicker.com). If you take all of the vowels out of a word, does the word remain the same? It’s an interesting question, and ... read more ...
Thu 15th May 2014
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Our Interview With The CEO Of Maccabim.com On The Serial Cybersquatter Detector - Last week we wrote about a new product called the Serial Cybersquatter Detector (SCD) Network powered by DomainTools® and being run and marketed by Maccabim.com. As we expressed in the original post we had some issues a company using an automated system to to identify “Serial Cybersquatters” so we reached out to Jonathan Matkowsky, the Founder CEO of Maccabim.com Ltd. who was nice enough to answer our questions and give some details about the new service. Your service says you identify serial ... read more ...
Wed 14th May 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Company sues to overturn UDRP decision - Company turns to courts (again) to try to overturn adverse UDRP ruling. Technology Online, LLC has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Nevada to overturn a UDRP against the domain name Jeffers.com. Veterinarian supply company Jeffers, Inc. filed a UDRP with World Intellectual Property Organization earlier this year and won the case. Technology Online argues that the panelist in that case erred because she considered the date Technology Online acquired the domain ... read more ...