CRIDO Says Battle Against New TLDs Won’t End Jan 12 - Lawyer says it will battle on even after application window opens. Coalition for Responsible Internet Domain Oversight (CRIDO), a new group formed to try to stall or can ICANN’s new top level domain name program, says it has more than two months to make a difference. The application window for new top level domains opens January 12. But Doug Wood, Association of National Advertisers counsel, told World Trademark Review that it plans to battle the program even after ... read more ...

Manwin’s Attack on .XXX is Really an Attack on New TLDs - Arguments and antitrust lawsuit could be made against many top level domain names. Manwin Licensing, the company behind YouPorn, has sued .xxx registry ICM Registry for violating the Sherman Act (i.e. monopoly). If you read the complaint against ICM you could substitute other top level domains for .xxx and the suit would still make sense. Manwin says .xxx wasn’t put out to competitive bid, has no price caps, and ICM Registry gets presumptive renewal. It also complains ... read more ...

Domainer Colin Pape Files Complaint with FTC Over Google - Claims Google unfairly promoted its own web properties. Someone close do the domain name industry is getting lots of press today. ShopCity, led by Colin Pape, filed a complaint with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on November 11. Pape has been in the domain industry for a while and even keynoted the Epik conference last year. Bloomberg BusinessWeek is covering the story. ShopCity says that Google unfairly used its control of search results to damage ShopCity.com, ... read more ...

Switch Communications Files Federal Lawsuit Against Buyer Of Switch.Net - According to Vegasinc.com, the dispute over the domain name Switch.net which was won on Namejet.com for $3,700 on November 18th which had a UDRP filed against in 2 days after acquisition by a Swiss company, is now the subject of a federal lawsuit filed under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. “Switch Communications Group LLC, operator of a big data center in Las Vegas, sued a Canadian man on Wednesday in what it calls a trademark dispute.” “Switch charged in the suit that Dorian ... read more ...

Twitter Wins Twiter.com Domain Name Case - Twitter awarded Twiter.com domain name. Twitter has won a case with World Intellectual Property Forum over the domain name Twiter.com. The company filed the complaint back in June against the typo of its popular service. The owner of the domain forwarded it to a “survey” site where the owner was paid after visitors divulged their information and completed offers in the hopes of receiving prizes. Twitter then dropped and refiled the case in July, most likely because ... read more ...

Feds Bust $14M Click Hijacking Scheme - Group hijacked computers to earn advertising revenue. Call it click fraud on steroids. The U.S. government has busted six Estonian nationals and one Russian national for what they call a massive click hijacking ring. The group allegedly used “rogue” Domain Name System servers and malware to alter the DNS server settings on infected computers. They infected over four million computers including 500,000 in the United States. By controlling the DNS the criminals ... read more ...

Registry Behind .Pro Says It Used .Law, .Med Back in 2004 - RegistryPro wants to trademark .med and .law domain names. There’s something sneaky going on with RegistryPro, the registry for the .pro top level domain name. First, the company filed trademark applications for the second level domains .med.pro and .law.pro. But it has taken it a step further, also applying for trademarks for .med, dotmed, .law, and dotlaw. Even more peculiar? It claims a first use in commerce date of 2004. It is relying on its offering of third ... read more ...

I Found a Group That Loves a E-Parasite-Bill: Trademark Lawyers - I found a group today that loves the E-Parasite-Bill as well as the Protect IP bill. Trademark Lawyers. In a session on counterfeiting websites at the IP Law Institute today,  the panelists and the IP lawyer filed conference chatted about the E-Parasite-Bill as well as the Protect IP bill. Seems that they love both. “what of the two bills give the brandowners more protection?” a lawyer in the audience asked “Well The E-Parasite Bill does because it gives brand owners a private right of action ... read more ...

Hustler Finally Hears About .Co Domains - Company files complaint over Hustler.co domain name. The company behind the Hustler adult entertainment enterprise has finally heard about the .co domain name. LFP, IP, LLC has filed a complaint with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) over the domain name Hustler.co. The domain is, of course, just one missing ‘m’ away from the company’s flagship web site. Hustler.co forwards to rival Vivid.com, although this may be through an affiliate relationship. ... read more ...

Wireless Company Files UDRP Over AEE.com After Losing Domain - Wireless products company in China loses domain in suspicious circumstances; files UDRP to get it back. Wireless company Shenzhen AEE Technology Co., Ltd has filed a UDRP for the domain name AEE.com. But before you question this filing for a three letter domain name, there are some interesting circumstances surrounding this domain name. You can discover them with the help of DomainTools’ historical whois. Shenzhen AEE Technology Co., Ltd owned the domain name until ... read more ...

The Gap Sues TheGap.com - Apparel company wants control of TheGap.com. The Gap, Inc. has sued TheGap.com under U.S. anti-cybersquatting laws. This action should come as no surprise. Despite being registered way back in 1994, the domain recently started forwarding to affiliate offers including free Gap gift cards: The Gap says that TheGap.com forwards to one of two web sites offering gift cards if people submit their personal information and complete sponsor offers. If the user tries to leave ... read more ...

Court Rules Pothead Can’t Change Name to a Domain Name - I won’t be changing my personal name to DomainNameWire.com anytime soon. Here’s an interesting court decision handed down by the Court of Appeal in California. Robert Edward Forchion, Jr., a self proclaimed “dedicated marijuana lover”, wanted to change his statutory name to NJWeedman.com. He has gone by the name NJWeedman for a while and operates a web site at NJWeedman.com. The appeal court affirmed that Forchion can’t change his name to NJWeedman.com. ... read more ...

Apple Fights for iPhone Porn Domain Names Including iphone4s.com - Company files complaint over seven domain names that forward to mobile porn site. If you really want to piss off a large company, just put some porn up on domain names that include its brands. Apple has just filed a complaint with World Intellectual Property Forum over seven domain names that include the term “iPhone” and forward to a mobile porn service. The seven domains (NSFW): iphonecamforce.com iphonecam4s.com iphoneporn4s.com iphonesex4s.com iphonexxxforce.com iphone4s.com porn4iphones.com I ... read more ...

LinkedIn Goes After Survey Typosquatters - Professional network upset about typos leading to fake surveys. LinkedIn has filed a dispute against the owner of several domain names that forward to a “survey” with a logo mimicking the company’s trademark. The dispute filed with National Arbitration Forum asks for control of the domain names linedin.com, linnkedin.com, and lonkedin.com. The domain names forward to this page on SurveyRewardPanel.com: If users take the “survey” they can then select a prize ... read more ...

National A-1 Pleads Guilt To Money Laundering, Forfeits $4.9M, Pays $1.5M excellent and Forfeits Escorts.com - According to an ABC News report just out National A-1 Advertising Inc. and R.S. Duffy Inc. agreed to plead guilty to money launderin and will forfeit $4.9 million, pay a $1.5 million fine and serve 1 1/2 years of probation for its activities in operating Escorts.com. National A-1 according to the story will also forfeit the domain name Escorts.com (although it would seem they have forfeited Escort.com as well) The government said it reserves the right to prosecute individuals associated with the ... read more ...

Has Lego’s $500k Spent on URDP Been a Waste? - It’s hard to see rhyme or reason in Lego’s heavy use of UDRP. Lego is a prolific filer of UDRP cases. I count 309 to date, with 100 already in the second half of 2011. Recently all of the cases have been filed with the assistance of Melbourne IT Digital Brand Services. At roughly $1,500 a pop not including legal fees (and assuming WIPO isn’t cutting them a deal) that comes out to nearly a half million dollars spent on UDRP. Lego sends cease and desist letters ... read more ...

What Will a U.S. Government Do With Escorts.com? - Plea deal gives Escorts.com domain to government. I just finished reading the plea bargain (pdf) between National A-1 and associated defendants and the U.S. government. The defendants have agreed to pay $1.5 million in fines and forfeit $4.9 million as well as the Escorts.com domain name. Which begs the question…what will the U.S. Government do with the Escorts.com domain name? Here are some of my guesses: 1. Congressmen create ode to Pamela Martin and Associates ... read more ...

Godaddy Likes The E-PARASITE Bill & TechDirt.com Rips Them - Over the weekend, Christine Jones general counsel and corporate secretary of GoDaddy.com wrote a piece that appeared in Politico.com in support of the E-Parasite Bill. In the piece Ms. Jones write in part: “”It’s a welcome step in the right direction, and we at GoDaddy.com applaud the leadership in the House Judiciary Committee, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet and the Senate Judiciary Committee, for taking decisive, bicameral and bipartisan ... read more ...

Google Gets Baidu Domain Name - GoogleBaidu.com: no merger, just an interesting domain dispute. Baidu might beat Google in China, but Google just got a hold of a little bit of Baidu. Google was just awarded the domain name GoogleBaidu.com in an arbitration case before National Arbitration Forum. You can understand why Google was irked by the domain name. It resolves to a page that looks like Google’s home page but is in Chinese and has a combination logo of Google and Baidu: The GoogleBaidu.com ... read more ...

Final Chance to Protect Against .XXX Domain Names [Updated] - Opportunity to block .xxx domain name registrations ends today. Update: ICM Registry has extended sunrise period to Monday, October 31, 2011 at 16:00 UTC (Noon ET). Companies that don’t want their trademark attached to a .xxx domain name have until the end of the day to take action. The sunrise period for the .xxx domain name concludes today. The sunrise period offers an opportunity to two groups: adult entertainment firms that wish to register domains related ... read more ...

Google Goes After More Survey Sites - Google continues assault on domain names monetized through survey sites. Google has filed a UDRP case against the owner of three Gmail typos that forward to “survey” sites. The three domains — gmaill.com, gmal.com, and gmiail.com — all lead to a page on VideoRewardsNow.com that have a logo oddly similar to Gmail’s logo: Once users complete the three question “survey” they are invited to select a prize such as an iPad. But in order to get that prize ... read more ...