Tag Archives: legal

Tue 30th October 2012
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
“UDRP Veterans” urge domain name - Panel says “UDRP Veterans” know what they’re doing. Garry Chernoff of NetIncome Ventures and domain attorney John Berryhill teamed up to successfully defend the domain name Hennessey.com in a UDRP. There are a couple interesting things about this case: 1. If I see a UDRP and the complainant is not who I would have thought it would be, that’s a pretty good sign that the complaint will fail. In this case, when I saw the domain Hennessey.com, I assumed the complainant ... read more ...
Mon 29th October 2012
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Backlash rising opposite second turn .uk domains - Existing .uk domain owners upset about plans for second level domains. Earlier this month I reported about .uk registry Nominet and its plan to release second level .uk domains. As of right now you can only register third level .uk domains, such as domain.co.uk. The plan is to allow domains such as domain.uk to be registered. Domains.uk may well be a superior domain, but this isn’t sitting well with current registrants of third level .uk domains. In fact, Nominet’s ... read more ...
Sat 27th October 2012
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Registrars Come Out Against Additional Rights Protections Policy Changes For New gTLD’s - In a letter sent by the Registrar Stakeholder Group to ICANN, today, the group has come out against making any additional changes to the Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPM) for trademark holders in the new gTLD’s. The letter was sent by the Chair of the Registrar Stakeholder Group Matt Serlin who wrote in part: “”We also understand various parties are advocating for the inclusion of additional Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPMs), in excess of what is currently in the Guidebook. We are extremely ... read more ...
Thu 25th October 2012
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Locksmiths “pick” quarrel with Frank Schilling - …and they lose. IDN, Inc., the company that runs Locksmith Dealers of America (LSDA), picked a fight with the wrong guy. (Sorry, I couldn’t help it.) The company filed a UDRP against Frank Schilling’s Name Administration over the domain name LSDA.com. Apparently IDN, Inc. decided that 2012 was a good year to create a web site after many years in business. Hey, better late than never. But it wanted the short and simple domain LSDA.com. It offered up to $5,000 ... read more ...
Wed 24th October 2012
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
UDRP Panel Rejects Claim of TM Holder On The Generic Domain Name; Six.com Despite $2M Offer For Sale - In a UDRP panel decision that will be published tomorrow, the domain holder, beat back The Complaint of SIX Group AG of Zürich, Switzerland on the domain name Six.com. The domain holder, Xedoc Holding SA of Luxembourg, was represented by Paul Keating of  Law.es, Spain. To summarize, the complainant held a trademark for the term Six in a number of countries; the domain was parked prior to 2011 and pointed to an adult site after; the domain holder offered to sell it to the complainant for $2 Million ... read more ...
Tue 23rd October 2012
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
UPDATED: Sedo.com Transactions For The Week Total $1.35 Million Led By MexicoCityHotels.com For $45K - Sedo just published its weekly report, and in all 867 transactions took place on Sedo’s marketplace and via SedoMLS, totaling $1.35 million. Over 39% of total sales were the result of Buy Now listings. Highlights of public sales include: Top .com: mexicocityhotels.com at $45,000 USD Top ccTLD: monkey.co.uk at 14,000 GBP Top “other” TLD: ria.biz at 8,000 EUR Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
UDRP Filed Against Generic Domain Name: InteriorDesign.com - A UDRP has just been filed against a great generic domain name InteriorDesign.com The domain name is owned a by a P. A. Gordon of  Guam, who lists as his email address getaway@getaway.com Getaway.com seems to be used as a travel site, however the domain in question goes to a Sedo parked page. The complainant is not yet listed. A quick check of the USPTO did not find a match for a trademark for either “interior design” or interiordesign.com The domain name has an original registration date of ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
InteriorDesign.com strike with UDRP - Valuable generic hit with UDRP. Another day, another amazing UDRP filing. This time it’s for InteriorDesign.com, which is owned by P. A. Gordon in Guam. Gordon owns some spectacular domain names, including Laptops.com, Getaway.com, Profit.com, Italy.com, Denmark.com, Netherlands.com, and Venezuela.com. It appears Gordon is the original registrant of the domain from 1997; at a minimum historical whois records show the registrant hasn’t changed since at least 2000. I ... read more ...
Mon 22nd October 2012
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Nordstrom sues peep sales site NoMoreRack - Retailer claims flash sales site is infringing its marks. Retailing giant Nordstrom has sued flash sales site NoMoreRack.com, claiming the site’s brand and domain name infringe its trademarks (pdf). Nordstrom owns 110 “The Rack” stores, which are essentially its outlet stores. It has trademarks for “Rack” and “The Rack”. NoMoreRack.com is a flash sales site, offering limited time closeout sales. According to this article, it generated $46 million in ... read more ...
Fri 19th October 2012
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Owner of Domains Seized In Dec By ICE Sentenced To 40 Months In Prision - Back in December 2011, we reported that the Homeland Security ICE department seized 11 domain names for selling pirated movies, TV shows and games. Yesterday the owner of two of the 11 seized domains, 36-year old Sang Jin Kim was sentenced by a federal judge to to 40 months in prison and was ordered him to forfeit more than $400,000 in assets. The two domains were 007disk.com and 82movie.com According to a press release by ICE: “”Prosecutors charged Kim with criminal copyright infringement in ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Guest Post: Another Day An Other Expansion of a UDRP in Favor of Complainants - This is a guest post by Paul Keating an attorney specializing in domain issues.  As principal of Law.es, he provides legal advice to domain investors, registrars and service providers. Law.es has offices in Barcelona and London: Panelist Warwick A. Rothnie just released his “considered” opinion in Six Continents Hotels, Inc. v. Triptih doo (D2012-1600).  I use “considered” loosely.  The domain at issue was holidaysarajevo.com.  The complainant was the owner of the “Holiday Inn” trademark ... read more ...
Thu 18th October 2012
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Lawsuits opposite ICANN and new TLDs start to hurl in - Two prior TLD applicants sue over specific top level domains. As plans for a 2013 rollout of new top level domains marches forward, two companies have sued ICANN to stop it from issuing certain top level domain names. Both lawsuits come courtesy of companies that applied in the “proof of concept” round back in 2000. Earlier this week DomainIncite reported about a suit filed by Name.Space against ICANN. Name.space runs an alternative root with 482 top level domains. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
RAA traffic updates and how it affects domainers - Get ready for whois verification. Maybe. Huge changes might be coming to the way you register a domain name, and domain investors need to pay attention. Negotiations for a new Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA), the agreement between registrars and ICANN, are ongoing. Meetings are taking place at ICANN’s meeting in Toronto this week. I’ve talked to multiple people close to the negotiations, including James Bladel, Senior Director, ICANN Policy and Planning ... read more ...
Wed 17th October 2012
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Company blames competitor’s use of domain name for 40% dump in business - It really should have registered the domain name earlier. A Boise garage door company blamed a competitor’s use of the domain name BoiseGarageDoor.com for a 40% drop in business. And it managed to win a UDRP for BoiseGarageDoor.com — although the decision didn’t hinge on this drop in business. The case pitted a company called Boise Garage Door LLC against competitor Sunrise Garage Door Co. The complainant has been in business for decades but finally got a trademark ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
WalMart loses web site conflict opposite United Food & Commercial Workers International Union - Arbitration panel rules union can keep domain names used to criticize retailer. Wal-Mart has failed to take down a United Food Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) web site critical of Walmart. A single member World Intellectual Property Organization arbitration panel has ruled that the UFCW can retain its domain names Walmartat50.com, walmartat50.com, walmartat50.net and walmartat50.org. Walmartat50.com is a web site that seeks to give the union’s take ... read more ...
Tue 16th October 2012
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
CitizenHawk patents the typo liberation business model - An in-depth look at CitizenHawk’s business model. Brand protection company CitizenHawk has been granted a patent that broadly covers its business model of recovering typo domain names on behalf of clients and then monetizing them. The U.S. patent basically explains the company’s entire business model from start to end; at least what the model was at the time it filed its patent. If you want to know exactly how it goes about discovery, categorizing, and recovering ... read more ...
Mon 15th October 2012
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Battle of a bad names: eevzDrop sues evzDrop - Two social apps based on audio have very similar names — but both are pretty bad. Two companies based in Illinois are duking it out over a really bad name for a social networking app. Eevzdrop, LLC (two e’s at beginning) has sued EvzDrop, Inc. (one e), saying the latter is infringing its Eevzdrop mark. Both names are a play on “eavesdrop”, as both companies offer social apps that involve audio. And both of the names miserably fail the “radio test”, meaning ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Circa domain penetrate could means problems - Startup’s domain name may violate .ca rules. Startup Circa made a big splash today with the release of its news app for the iPhone. The hoopla has a lot to do with the company’s notable co-founders including Cheezburger Network CEO Ben Huh. While Circa has a lot going for it, what it doesn’t have is the domain name Circa.com. It settled for the Canadian domain hack Cir.ca. A .ca domain hack doesn’t come with the political risk that you get with domains such ... read more ...
Fri 12th October 2012
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Say what?? It’s not retreat domain hijacking if we acknowledge it upfront. - When is a case of RDNH not RDNH? You won’t believe this one. Some UDRP cases should be clear cut cases of reverse domain name hijacking. Consider the decision just handed down over GoodUniverse.com. The complainant was just formed. It recently applied for a trademark on “Good Universe” on an intent-to-use basis, meaning it hasn’t even used its mark in commerce yet. The domain owner, a domain investor, has owned the domain name since at least 2004. The complainant ... read more ...
Wed 10th October 2012
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
NAF Panelist Cuts & Pastes From Another UDRP Decision, Again - Our eagle eye, George Kirikos has caught another National Arbitration Forum (NAF) John J. Upchurch cut and pasting in a UDRP decision The decision involved the case, eyecandydigitalsignage.com but as you can see  below the panelist cut and pasted language from another decision: “””Complainant alleges that Respondent must have had constructive and/or actual notice of Complainant’s rights in the MEDIACOM mark prior to registration of the domain names. While constructive notice is generally ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Google and Yahoo .ie domain nameservers temporarily hijacked - Visitors to Google.ie and Yahoo.ie yesterday didn’t get what they were looking for. Yesterday the whois record for Google.ie was temporarily changed, along with its nameservers. Michele Neylon of Blacknight was first to write about the hijacking. The nameservers for Yahoo.ie were also temporarily changed. Who’s to blame? The registry for .ie, IEDR, issued a statement that insinuated that the problem was at the registrar for the domains, Mark Monitor. But Mark ... read more ...
Tue 9th October 2012
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Schilling & Berryhill Get Their 2nd UDRP Win This Week On Metatrader.com & Reverse Domain Name Hijacking Finding - Frank Schilling’s NameAdministration represented by John Berryhill just won a UDRP for the 2nd day in the row, today on the domain name metatrader.com Not only did they win this UDRP but they got a finding of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH) Here are the relevant facts and findings from the three member panel: The Complainant MetaQuotes Software Corp. of Nassau, is a software solutions provider for the financial market. It is a business to business software development company, established ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Software association guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking opposite Frank Schilling - WIPO panel rules company filed UDRP “to obtain the disputed domain name at any cost”. A World Intellectual Property Organization panel has found a software company guilty of reverse domain name hijacking in a UDRP filed against one of Frank Schilling’s domain names. The UDRP was filed by MetaQuotes Software Corp. for the domain name MetaTrader.com. Schilling’s company registered the domain prior to MetaQuotes filing for a trademark registration or even copyright ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Persona.com survives second UDRP from opposite complainant - Persona.com successfully defended — for the second time. If two completely different complainants file a UDRP against the same domain name, doesn’t that kind of show that it’s a common generic domain? Persona.com was first hit with a UDRP back in 2006 by The Eye Academy of America Ltd. and Total Vision Eye Care Group, P.C. It won the case as the panel determined: The Panel finds that common generic words are open for registration, and thus, Respondent has rights ... read more ...
Mon 8th October 2012
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Frank Schilling wins UDRP for DataServ.com - Company files UDRP after $20,000 offer rejected. Frank Schilling’s Name Administration has successfully defended the domain name DataServ.com in a UDRP filed by St. Louis company DataServ, L.L.C. DataServ made offers of $10,000, $15,000 and finally of $20,000, but couldn’t get Shilling to sell. After that it decided to try its hand at UDRP. The offer of $20,000 certainly seems to indicate that DataServ knew it had little basis for filing a UDRP. Here’s how ... read more ...