Tag Archives: legal

Thu 3rd April 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
HugeDomains sues medical organisation to keep domain and claims RDNH - HugeDomains claims Austin medical group provided false statements in UDRP. A couple weeks ago I wrote about a UDRP for AustinPain.com and how I thought the panel got it wrong. Now HugeDomains, which was on the losing end of the case, has filed suit to halt the transfer and is asking to recover damages under Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH). The suit was filed against Austin Pain Associates in U.S. District Court in Colorado yesterday. In the suit, HugeDomains ... read more ...
Wed 2nd April 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
No Justin Bieber bashing in new .xyz domain name - Be careful what content you post at JustBieberDruggie.xyz. The .XYZ top level domain name has published its launch policies, and it includes perhaps the most off-the-wall restriction of any new TLD to date: No Bieber-bashing. Oprah, too. Page 22 of the policy states that abusive and forbidden uses of .xyz names include: “illegal malicious and fraudulent defamation of Oprah Winfrey, Daniel Negari, or Justin Bieber” Depending on how you look at generational dates, ... read more ...
Tue 1st April 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Major email providers restraint some RAA corroboration emails - Blocking could lead to website suspensions. Beginning January 1st domain name registrars are required by the new Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) to verify contact details for registrants. Most registrars do this by sending an email to domain registrants and asking them to click a link in the email. For the registrant fails to do this, their domain names can be suspended. This has resulted in at least one high profile website being suspended, and more will ... read more ...
Mon 31st March 2014
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
More Trademark Clearing House Abuse: Texas & Venture Triggers Notice - A couple of weeks ago we wrote about Trademark holders of generic terms applying to the Trademark Clearing House (TMCH) where trademarks on many of which were causing some of those 500,000 “warnings” to go out to people trying to register a new gTLD domain name. Today we bring you the world famous trademarks for the term “Texas” and “Venture” “”1. TEXAS Jurisdiction: United States of America Goods: IC 041. US 107. G S: Educational Services-Namely, Providing College and Graduate Level ... read more ...
Fri 28th March 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
4chan final 4chan.com domain name - Popular bulletin board asks arbitration panel to give it the 4chan.com domain name. One of the world’s most trafficked websites is on a .org domain name, and now its asking an arbitration panel to give it the matching .com. Image-based bulletin board 4chan (at 4chan.org) has filed a complaint with The World Intellectual Property Organization. It claims that the owner of 4chan.com is cybersquatting and demands the domain name be handed over. 4chan.com has been owned ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Fortune 1000 association loses 2 URS cases - Heartland Payment Systems loses claims to “Heartland” domain names. So far the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) policy for new top level domain names appears to be working. URS was designed to be a faster and cheaper version of UDRP for slam dunk cases of cybersquatting. Since UDRP was meant to be for clear-cut cases as well, the burden of proof is very high in URS cases. Richard Branson was the first to lose a case, for Branson.guru. Now Heartland Payment Systems, ... read more ...
Wed 26th March 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Cheers! .Wine and .Vin domains prepared to be bottled - Wine domain names can move forward without additional restrictions. The New gTLD Program Committee of ICANN’s board has given the green light for the .wine and .vin top level domain names to move forward without additional restrictions. [Update: put a cork in it! The GAC has apparently found a procedural error that will delay the Board’s decision.] A number of governments, particularly in Europe, were opposed to the delegation of the domain names without added ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sign.com and Signs.com settle dispute - You can’t trademark “sign” for selling signs. The owners of the category-killer domain names Sign.com and Signs.com have settled a legal battle over their ability to co-exist. In Janauary 2013 I wrote about how the owner of Sign.com made the bizarre claim that Signs.com was violating its service mark by using the domain Signs.com to sell signs. An attorney for SA International, owner of Sign.com, sent a cease desist letter to Signs.com: The use of the substantially ... read more ...
Tue 25th March 2014
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Meet The 1st .Email Cybersquatter Grabs Up ESPN, Pepsi, Starbucks, Chevrolet, NFL & More - We just went through the zone file for the .email new gTLD to see what interesting new domain registrations I found. I couldn’t help miss the registrations by a organization out of Los Alamitos, CA named Viva Las Vegas who wound up getting a great domain in LasVegas.email, but went after and got domain names matching some trademarked and well known companies. It should be noted all these were acquired before general avaliabity so the company paid extra to get priority registrations on these  .email ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
TMCH brags about numbers, though what do they mean? - Trademark Clearinghouse has issued 500,000 claims notices. The Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) announced today that it has issued 500,000 claims notices to prospective registrants of domains under new top level domain names. The notices are shown when someone tries to register a domain that matches a trademark or trademark string submitted to the database. Here’s what the claims notices look like. That’s an impressively high number, but what exactly does it mean? ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Famous Four alleges couple between panelist and competition for .Sport - Company says panelist that killed its .sport application had a conflict of interest. Last fall Famous Four Media saw its plans to run a .sport top level domain dashed after a panelist found in favor of rival applicant SportAccord in a community objection. Famous Four appealed the decision to ICANN through a reconsideration request and lost. Now the company is claiming (pdf) it has found ties between the panelist that decided the case and SportAccord. Panelist Guido ... read more ...
Mon 24th March 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Cleveland Clinic’s .Med focus is alive again - Board Governance Committee to consider if application should move forward. A lot of new top level domain name applicants have filed “Reconsideration Requests” after finding themselves on the losing end of objections. They all have the same story: we were wronged, and we were wronged in a way unique to everyone else who has failed with their reconsideration request. It was the same story I heard from .Med applicant Medistry (backed by Cleveland Clinic) when it ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Cybersquatting lawsuit filed opposite AnnualCreditReport.com typos - Company goes after ten 37 typos of popular website. A company created by the three major U.S. consumer credit bureaus has filed an in rem lawsuit against 10 typo domain names. [Update: The company actually filed four separate lawsuits against a total of 37 domain names.] Central Source LLC was formed to operate the AnnualCreditReport.com website after the U.S. government passed the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) in 2003. The law mandated that consumers get free ... read more ...
Fri 21st March 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
A domain financier goes to WIPO’s home in Geneva to learn some-more about UDRP - Nat Cohen traveled to Geneva to learn more about the current state of UDRP. Here’s what he learned. Last October, at the suggestion of attorneys John Berryhill and Zak Muscovitch, I flew to Geneva to attend a workshop presented by WIPO entitled WIPO Advanced Workshop on Domain Name Dispute Resolution: Update on Precedent and Practice. I hoped to gain a better understanding of whether, despite the UDRP’s flaws and the pro-complainant bias built into the procedures, ... read more ...
Thu 20th March 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
UDRP row gets AustinPain.com preference wrong - Panel awards generic domain name to company with questionable trademark rights. A National Arbitration Forum panel has ordered the transfer of the domain name AustinPain.com, and I believe it got the decision wrong. The case was filed by Austin Pain Associates* against HugeDomains. The three person panel had to twist and rationalize UDRP rules in order to find against HugeDomains in each aspect of the UDRP. Reading the case, it’s apparent that Austin Pain Associates ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Richard Branson is initial URS loser - Panel denies claim to Branson.guru. Last month I wrote about how billionaire Richard Branson had filed some cases under the new Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) policy to suspend domains that cybersquatted his name and brands. One case that hadn’t been filed at the time was for Branson.guru. A decision has been handed down and Branson has the distinction of being the first person to lose a URS case. Branson’s lawyers (actual counsel for his company Virgin) made ... read more ...
Wed 19th March 2014
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NTIA: U.S. won’t desert a purpose in a internet until it’s confident with a alternative - Strickling makes it clear that IANA contract won’t be transitioned until it is happy with the alternative. Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information Lawrence E. Strickling penned a blog post today to try to clarify some of the misinformation coming out of last week’s announcement of transitioning the IANA functions. In his post, Strickling makes is clear that the NTIA will only transition these functions if it’s satisfied with the alternative that ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Quebec’s supervision loses domain brawl over Quebec.com - UDRP must have been lost in translation. The Government of Quebec has lost a UDRP it filed against the domain name Quebec.com. This was a no brainer case. The three person panel found that domain owner Anything.com has rights or legitimate interests in the domain and did not register it in bad faith. Instead, the registrant registered it and parked it showing ads related to the city of Quebec. While the panel doesn’t specifically find laches, it questions why it ... read more ...
Tue 18th March 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Panel won’t find Reverse Domain Name Hijacking due to whois privacy - UDRP panelist cites whois privacy as reason for not finding RDNH. A single member National Arbitration Forum panel has found in favor of the owner of Finell.com, but declined to find reverse domain name hijacking because the owner used a whois privacy service. The UDRP complaint was brought by Finell Co., LLC, which has its origins around 2011. Architect Filip Finell registered Finell.com in 2000 and started using it to promote his architecture firm. He later took ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
55 new TLDs ask grant from Registry Code of Conduct - 55 .brand application owners request exemptions. Today ICANN posted 55 requests made by new TLD applicants for an exemption from the Registry Code of Conduct. The Registry Code of Conduct for new TLDs includes provisions related to showing preference to different registrars, registering domains in the registry’s own right, frontrunning, and control between an owned registry and registrar. The 55 requests were made by companies wishing to operate their domains as ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
First 4 Community Priority Evaluations Fail: .Taxi, Tennis, .MLS, .Immo - Four “community” applicants fail in bids to quash competition. ICANN has published the results of the first four decided Community Priority Evaluations (CPE) for new top level domain names. All four failed to pass. Applicants that self-selected themselves as “community” applicants for top level domain names can go through this process to see if they qualify. If they do qualify as a community under the requirements, they will effectively kill off all non-community ... read more ...
Mon 17th March 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Verisign tells markets NTIA news doesn’t impact the .com agreement while batch drops - Verisign points out that NTIA announcement has nothing to do with .com, but at least one analyst has downgraded the stock due to uncertainty. Verisign issued a press release this morning reminding investors that Friday’s big news about the U.S. government transitioning internet responsibilities does not affect its lucrative contract to run the .com domain name registry. Verisign shares were down about 6% in the first few minutes of trading today. Last Friday National ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
RrSG provides justification to behind adult claims done opposite Minds + Machines - Communication shows that Web.com didn’t receive contract until after reservation program was live. Last month I wrote that ICANN’s Registrar Stakeholder Group (RrSG) was questioning if Top Level Domain Holdings/Minds + Machines’ “Priority Registration System” complied with ICANN contracts. Issues around registry and registrar cross ownership and making sure registries provide equal opportunity to unaffiliated registrars are sure to pop up in coming years. ... read more ...
Fri 14th March 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
This time it’s real: U.S. prepared to give adult control over pivotal internet functions - Government ready to relinquish control over IANA contract. In 2009 the U.S Government agreed to the “Affirmation of Commitments” with ICANN to set if free from U.S. control. The press ate it up, assuming that it meant the U.S. had given up control of the internet. It hadn’t. The key contract that the U.S. government controls for the internet’s naming system is actually the Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA) contract, which includes managing the root ... read more ...
Thu 13th March 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Patient.com domain name strike with UDRP - UK health software company claims that owner of Patient.com is cybersquatting. Egton Medical Information Systems Limited, an electronic healthcare records software company, has filed a UDRP against the domain name Patient.com. The domain name was registered in 1997 but was acquired at Sedo in 2012, according to historical whois records. I don’t believe the sale was ever made public. The domain name currently resolves to a “coming soon” page. Egton owns a consumer ... read more ...