Tag Archives: legal

Sat 16th March 2013
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Federal Court Awards Manwin 5 Domains & $100K In Damages - According to xBiz.com Manwin was awarded $100,000 in statutory damages under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act by the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles The defendant Georgia resident Nicholas Bulgin, was accused of cybersquatting and extorting the adult entertainment conglomerate. The domains at issue were Manwin.net, Manwin.co, Manwin.us, ManwinSucks.com, and Brazzers.us The federal court also granted Manwin’s motions to restrain Bulgin from creating domain names, Twitter accounts ... read more ...
Tue 12th March 2013
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
After Cybersquatter’s Loses UDRP On Trump Domains He Sues & Loses ACPA Case - In a one of the stupidest cases I have ever read,  the District Court for the Eastern District Of New York just denied a suit bought by a self described domainer, who sued Donald Trump seeking a declaratory judgement that he was entitled to use 4 .com domain names that included the “trump” brand . The case is was filed by the domain holder who lost a UDRP on the domain names trumpabudhabi.com, trumpbeijing.com, trumpindia.com and trumpmumbai.com back in March 2011. Instead of going away, the ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
How is this “confusingly similar”? - I’m not sure how this UDRP case passed the confusingly similar test. The first prong of a UDRP case is whether the domain name at issue is identical or confusingly similar to one of the complainant’s trademarks. It’s usually the simplest part of a UDRP. But sometimes complainants make a biiiig stretch in comparing the domain to their mark. Sadly, a lot of panelists also bite. Consider the recent case for GoCables.com. The complainant, Lastar, Inc., d/b/a Cables ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Lawsuit filed to hindrance UrbanHome.com send after UDRP decision - Suit claims WIPO panel was wrong in UrbanHome.com decision. Last week Michael Berkens wrote about a UDRP decision for UrbanHome.com. A WIPO panel ruled that the domain name should be transferred to Urban Home of Oxnard, California. Now the respondent, Technology Online, LLC, has filed a federal lawsuit (pdf) in Nevada to stop the transfer. Technology Online argues that the panel erred in ordering the domain transferred and is asking for declaratory relief. Although ... read more ...
Mon 11th March 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Procter & Gamble guilty of retreat domain name hijacking - Consumer products giant provided false sales numbers to WIPO panel. A World Intellectual Property Organization panel has found Procter Gamble guilty of attempted reverse domain name hijacking over the domain swash.com. Marchex has owned the domain name since 2004. PG launched a new brand called Swash several years later. In its complaint, PG originally stated that it had generated more than $40 million in Swash sales over the past four years. It also claimed some ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
So most antithesis to a sealed .cloud, nonetheless nothing of these companies bought Cloud.com? - Companies that are worried about competitive advantage should reexamine their own domain name strategies. An awful lot of big brands are speaking out against the prospect of “closed generic” top level domains, such as .cloud and .book. That may be good news for owners of high quality second level domains, if or when these complaining companies “get” domain names. They’re spending a lot of time fighting the prospect of companies getting a competitive advantage ... read more ...
Fri 8th March 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Registrars miffed about new accreditation agreement. Will it check new TLDs? - Fighting over new agreement continues and threatens new TLD timeline. The team of registrars negotiating with ICANN for the new Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) issued a stern statement today saying ICANN is making some unreasonable requests and is trying to hold new TLDs hostage to a new agreement. Last night ICANN published its proposed 2013 RAA. Where the registrars disagreed with ICANN it also published the registrars take. The main sticking point is the ... read more ...
Wed 27th February 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Nominet shelves devise for shorter .uk domain names (for now) - No second level registrations — for now. .UK registry Nominet has delayed approving its own proposal for offer second level domain names. The proposal would have allowed people to register domain names at the second level (e.g. name.uk) instead of the existing third level requirement (e.g. name.co.uk). That concerned existing registrants of third level domain names, who wouldn’t necessarily be first in line to get the second level equivalent of their third level ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Ron Paul files another domain brawl targeting RonPaul.org - Ron Paul files additional domain dispute. Ron Paul has filed another domain name complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization. The new case is targeted solely at RonPaul.org. Earlier this month Paul filed a case against both RonPaul.com and RonPaul.org. So why a new case specifically for the .org? The original case against the .com and .org has not been withdrawn (at least yet), so this doesn’t appear to be a case where the parties have amicably settled ... read more ...
Tue 26th February 2013
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Brands Are Missing The Boat Catching Cheap TM Domains On The Drop & Saving UDRP Money - Brands which have endlessly expressed their concerns over cybersquatting in the new gTLD’s space and complained about the cost of enforcement of their trademarks in existing TLD’s and ccTLD’s are still missing a huge opportunity to secure dropping trademark infringing domains for nominal fees. Brands which spent thousands of dollars to bring a single UDRP are failing to take advantage of  registering dropping trademark infringing domains which would save them not only a huge amount of money ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
More sum about URS and National Arbitration Forum - Pricing not set, but technology paved the way for inexpensive service. Last week ICANN announced that it appointed The National Arbitration Forum as an administrator of the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS). URS is a faster and cheaper way to take down an infringing domain name than a UDRP. While faster and cheaper, it doesn’t result in the transfer of a domain when the complainant wins. ICANN posted the two page memorandum of understanding between it and National ... read more ...
Mon 25th February 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Oakley goes after counterfeiters and their domain names - Sunglass brand fights counterfeiters with federal lawsuit. Oakley has filed UDRP cases in the past to take down sites selling fake Oakley sunglasses. Now it’s going for damages against alleged counterfeiters with a federal lawsuit (pdf) filed in Illinois on Friday. The lawsuit alleges that the owners of an unspecified number of domain names are selling counterfeit goods using the domains. The actual domain names at issue were filed under seal. Oakley is asking the ... read more ...
Thu 21st February 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
When will Sony go after Playstation4.com? - Company announced new video game system but hasn’t yet secured key domain name. Sony gave the first glimpse of the capabilities of its forthcoming PlayStation 4 yesterday. You’ll find plenty of information about it at Playstation4.com, but that’s not an official site. The domain name is owned by Poise Media Inc., which forwards the domain to its PSXextreme.com web site. Sony owns Playstation.com, Playstation2.com, and Playstation3.com. It’s only a matter of ... read more ...
Wed 20th February 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ECommerce association Eyemagine found guilty of retreat domain name hijacking - Company claimed rights to domain registered in 1996, well before it started using the name as a brand. Irvine, California eCommerce technology company Eyemagine Technology LLC has been found by the World Intellectual Property Organization to be guilty of reverse domain name hijacking. The company, which says it started using the Eyemagine brand in 2003, filed the complaint against a construction company that registered the domain eyemagine.com way back in 1996. The ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN vouchsafing registrar negotiations reason new TLDs hostage - No new agreement, no new TLDs. Last week I wrote about how ICANN’s latest proposed registry agreement for new TLD operators. The agreement mandates that new TLD operators use only domain registrars that have signed the new Registrar Accreditation Agreement with ICANN. The problem is that the RAA doesn’t exist yet. As far as we know, it’s still be negotiated. And negotiations are contentious. Michele Neylon of Irish registrar Blacknight submitted comments to ... read more ...
Tue 19th February 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Nintendo files censure over WiiU.com - Company says owner is cybersquatting with WiiU.com domain name. Nintendo released WiiU, the successor to its popular Wii video game system Wii, in November. But it was missing a key online marketing ingredient: the domain name WiiU.com. Now it has filed a cybersquatting complaint with World Intellectual Property Forum in an effort to get the domain name. The whois record for the domain shows a registration date of 2004, well before Nintendo came up with the name for ... read more ...
Thu 14th February 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Registrars competence have to adopt new RAA in sequence to sell new tip turn domains - In October I wrote about negotiations for a new registrar accreditation agreement (RAA). The RAA is the contract between domain name registrars and ICANN. It is periodically updated. When it’s updated, ICANN provides some sort of incentive to existing registrars to abandon their existing RAA before it expires and adopt a new one. For example, ICANN has previously reduced per-domain fees in a newer version of the RAA. One idea that was being tossed around in October ... read more ...
Wed 13th February 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Some humorous things about that RonPaul.com domain dispute… - Both sides in the dispute have some explaining to do. Over the past few days the tech media has been abuzz about Ron Paul filing a UDRP against the owners of RonPaul.com. For the most part the press has been taking the side of the Ron Paul supporters who have been operating the site for the past 4+ years, apparently selflessly. There are definitely many things about Paul’s complaint that stink, as the tech press has pointed out. But the same can be said for what’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Why I’m not worried by sealed general tip turn domain names - As a domain investor, I find it difficult to oppose the idea of closed generic top level domains. There’s been a lot of talk in the domain industry about “closed generic” top level domain names. A closed generic is a generic term (non brand) such as .baby, .kid, .cloud, in which the applicant wants to keep all of the second level domains for themselves. If the applicant wants to run a closed registry on .cloud, that means no one other than the applicant would ... read more ...
Tue 12th February 2013
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
University Of Oklahoma Files Federal Lawsuit Over SoonerNetwork.com - According to newsok.com, the University of Oklahoma has filed a federal lawsuit over the domain name, soonernetwork.com. According to the story, the domain name is owned by Hugh Michael Glenn. “The lawsuit alleges Glenn bought the domain name with the intent of selling it to OU at a profit, a process known as cybersquatting. The university is seeking an injunction barring Glenn from using any of OU’s trademarks in the future. OU also is seeking $100,000 in damages, any profits Glenn has received ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Joan Collins Files UDRP For The Domain Name JoanCollins.com - Joan Collins, a movie and television actress who starred in Dynasty and the author of over 10 books just filed a UDRP to get the domain name JoanCollins.com Ms. Collins full name is Joan Henrietta Collins Gibson. Joan Collins official site is Joancollins.net.  Ms. Collins sister Jackie, who is also an author, owns the domain name JackieCollins.com The complaint for JoanCollins.com, was filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The domain name is showing an original registration ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Cincinnati Zoo gets CincinnatiZoo.com eleven years later - Zoo moved slower than a turtle but will now get CincinnatiZoo.com. It took them a while, but one of the nation’s oldest zoos now has its .com domain name. A World Intellectual Property Organization panel has ordered the domain name CincinnattiZoo.com be transferred to the Zoological Society of Cincinnati, dba Cincinnati Zoo. The zoo has used the domain name cincinnatizoo.org since 2001, which was the same year the .com was registered. A lot of people likely went ... read more ...
Fri 8th February 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Stratfor aims to take down site about hack - Intelligence firm wants to take down site that discusses 2011 hacking incident. Stratfor Enterprises, LLC, an intelligence firm that was famously hacked in 2011, is trying to get control of a domain commemorating the attack. The company has filed a complaint with World Intellectual against the owner of Stratfor.co. Stratfor.co shows an image of what Stratfor.com looked like after it was hacked and defaced in 2011. The hack, carried out my members of anonymous, resulted ... read more ...
Thu 7th February 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Woman arrested after being indicted of holding former employer’s domain names - Woman accused of taking control of domain names she registered on behalf of former employer. A Steamboat Springs woman has been arrested for theft after allegedly taking control of her former employer’s domain names. The news was first reported in Steamboat Today. Donna “Tonie” Roberts was given a company credit card and was asked to register domains for Ghost Ranch Restaurant when she was employed there. After she left, she allegedly called Go Daddy to “shut ... read more ...
Wed 6th February 2013
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Tumblr files 9 cybersquatting complaints - Blogging platform cracks down on cybersquatters. Blogging service Tumblr has filed 9 separate cybersquatting complaints in the last two weeks. The complaints, filed under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy with World Intellectual Property Organization, cover typos of its main Tumblr.com domain name. The domains include: tumlr.com tubmlr.com tumbllr.com tublr.com tumbl.com tumblor.com tmblr.com wwwtumblr.com tumbr.com The domains all show different owners ... read more ...