Tag Archives: legal

Tue 23rd August 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Google Wants to Take Down Goggle.com Web Site - Google goes after another “survey” site. Google has filed a complaint with National Arbitration forum to get a hold of Goggle.com, Goggle.net, and Goggle.org. While the domain names could be considered “generic” for the term Google, it’s the use of the domain names that has the company up in arms. Similar to another recent complaint over YouTube.ph, these domains forward to a survey page that then entices users to complete a number of offers. The current ... read more ...
Mon 22nd August 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Vertical Axis Beats Back UDRP On WorldClassFireworks.com Despite Trademark - Jake’s Fireworks Inc. of Pittsburgh, Kansas, brought a UDRP against  Vertical Axis Inc on the domain name worldclassfireworks.com a term for which they held a US Trademark Here are the relevant facts found by the three member panel and the highlights of the decision: “The Complainant operates a business which distributes and sells fireworks throughout the United States of America under the name “Jake’s Fireworks”.” The Complainant owns nine distribution centers in Washington, Nebraska, ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Plans For The Amy Winehouse Foundation Announced Before Domains Are Secured & Now The Family Has A Problem - So shortly after Amy Winehouse’s death her father Mitch Winehouse announced that he would be setting up the Amy Winehouse Foundation to help young people struggling with addiction. However he failed to secure the domain name and guess what? amywinehousefoundation.com was registered on July 26th as was amywinehousefoundation.co.uk According to the BBC is was the same day that Amy’s father announced at her daughter’s funeral that he was going to set up the foundation. amywinehousefoundation.com ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Most Businesses Can Skip .XXX Sunrise - Risks of .xxx cybersquatting are minimal. Yesterday I met with a group of entrepreneur friends and I explained the upcoming .xxx Sunrise B to them. Sunrise B allows non-adult trademark holders to pay a one time fee to block their trademark from ever being registered in .xxx. After explaining the process an inevitable question came up: “So, Andrew, do you think we should participate in Sunrise B”. My answer was no. Unless you have a huge brand, I don’t see why ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
iPhone Jailbreak Site Files Lawsuit Over Domain Name - Company behind Cydia app directory files lawsuit. After losing a dispute under the uniform domain name dispute resolution policy (UDRP) in March, a jailbreak iPhone app store has filed a lawsuit in an effort to get the domain name Cydia.com. Saurikit, LLC has a directory of apps that work on jailbroken iPhones and iPod Touches that it hosts at cydia.saurik.com. It also has a U.S. trademark for “Cydia”. Earlier this year it filed a UDRP to get Cydia.com. The UDRP ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN’s Peter Dengate Thrush Problem - Conflict of interest, whether real or imagined, looks bad for ICANN as it faces fresh criticism over its new TLD plans. ICANN has a problem. As criticism mounts against its approval of the new top level domain name program, some groups are pointing fingers at an inherent conflict of interest. The key example is former ICANN Chairman of the Board Peter Dengate Thrush. One month after pushing through a vote on the new TLD program in his last meeting as Chairman he ... read more ...
Fri 19th August 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
National A-1 Takes Down Escort.com & Escorts.com - We haven’t heard much since Federal and State law enforcement raided the offices of National A-1 in October 2010. At the time we noted that one of National A-1 sites, escorts.com might have been the subject of the probe and it now appears that both Escort.com and Escorts.com, both owned by National A1, are offline. Both Sites now return a white page with only these words appearing on top: “”This Domain is Not in Use“” Escorts.com has an Alexa ranking in the US of 75K and received according ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Google Gets XXX Domain Name* - Company gets a triple xxx domain name — but I’m not talking about the top level domain. Google has gotten its hands on GoogleXXX — but not Google.xxx (yet). The company was awarded GoogleXXX.com in a World Intellectual Property Forum ruling just handed down. This got me thinking: with the .xxx top level domain name coming out, will it lead to more xxx typos? One type of domain companies should consider registering is just like what Google just got — trademarkxxx.com. ... read more ...
Thu 18th August 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Scammy Surveys Will Bring Renewed Attention to Cybersquatting - Expect a broad crack down thanks to cybersquatters pushing the edge. Domain parking of trademark domain names and typos pisses off trademark holders. Scammy, misleading surveys really piss them off. Google just filed a complaint with WIPO over the domain name YouTube.ph, and you can’t blame the company. If you go to this domain name you’ll be forwarded to VideoRewardCentral.com and a landing page that looks like this: Whereas a parked page merely includes links ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
In-N-Out Sues Grab-N-Go - “They’re not from McDonalds, are they?” This trademark lawsuit doesn’t involve a domain name but is interesting nonetheless. Iconic hamburger chain In-N-Out Burgers has sued Maryland burger joint Grab-N-Go Burgers for trademark infringement. It’s not the name by itself that disturbs In-N-Out. It’s more like McDowell’s‎ instead of McDonald’s in Coming to America (the quote above). In-N-Out thinks Grab-N-Go has stolen just about everything from ... read more ...
Tue 16th August 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
UDRP Cyberbullying Hits a New Low - German company goes after three letter domain 16 years after it’s registered. I’ve seen a lot of egregious UDRP cases over the years. This one may take the cake. Imagine the year is 1995. You register the domain name GEA.com because your personal initials are GEA and you have a business called G.E.A. Design. Then 14 years later, in 2009, a German company starts complaining that its acronym is GEA and you should sell it the domain name for a nominal amount so it ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Rod Beckstrom To Leave ICANN After End of Term - CEO to step down at end of three year tenure. ICANN President and CEO Rod Beckstrom will step down at the end of his three year term, the non-profit announced this afternoon. He has been at the helm of the company since July 2009 and will finish his three year contract at the end of June 2012. It’s been an interesting couple years since he joined the organization. Shortly after he started ICANN gained some independence from the U.S. government. But the relationship ... read more ...
Mon 15th August 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Masala.xxx Didn’t Get a Memo About India and .XXX Domain Names - Users might have a hard time reaching Indian .xxx site. I was caught a bit off guard when reading Elliot’s story today about Masala.xxx launching. This is apparently an adult site aimed at India. Although I don’t believe anything is done yet, India is high up on list of countries that will try to block .xxx domain names from resolving. It seems odd that you’d launch a .xxx site aimed squarely and India in the face of it being hard for your target visitors to ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Kohler Files Cybersquatting Lawsuit Against Repeat Offenders - After paying off cybersquatters, Kohler says it got burned. Plumbing fixtures giant Kohler has filed an anticybersquatting lawsuit against a company that it had already paid to stop registering its trademarks as domain names. The federal district suit was filed against DomainJet, Inc, Jack Sun, and one or more of the company’s employees. According to Kohler, it approached the defendants after it noticed they registered Kohlerco.in. The defendants demanded $1,000 ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Free Speech Coalition Provides Template Trademark Protection Letter to Adult Sites - “The money generated should come from legitimate adult and explicit content users.” If I am a legitimate registrant, why should I have to pay a “trademark tax” to protect the interests of people who ate perfectly capable of taking care of themselves? “ICANN can create a gang of six” And who pays them? Some other group of people who should pay to protect someone else’s property rights? If you want to keep people out of your yard, do you make everyone else buy you a fence? ... read more ...
Sun 14th August 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Trader Joe’s Sues Grocery Delivery Web Site - Trader Joe’s unhappy with food delivery service. Fast growing and trendy grocery store chain Trader Joe’s has sued the owner of TJsDeliveryService.com for trademark infringement. The web site technically stands for “Traffic Jam’s” delivery service, but the site is forward about what it does: delivers groceries from Trader Joe’s directly to your home: After taking requests from family and friends to bring these products with us when visiting, we realized ... read more ...
Fri 12th August 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Education Vertical May Take A Huge Hit As The US & 5 States Sue Education Management Corp For BILLIONS - From July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006, Department of Education calculations reflect that EDMC received at least $893,170,978.00 in Title IV funding for students enrolled in EDMC institutions. From July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007, Department of Education calculations reflect that EDMC received at least $919,187,428.00 in Title IV funding for students enrolled in EDMC institutions. From July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008, Department of Education calculations reflect that EDMC received at least $1,205,247,718.00 ... read more ...
Wed 10th August 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
BJP.com A 14 Year Old Domain Is Taken in a UDRP Without A Registered Trademark - A one person panel just awarded a golden three letter domain to the complainant. The domain name BJP.com and it was awarded to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of New Delhi, India The complainant did not have a registered trademark on the domain name and the domain holder has held the domain since 1997. Here are the relevant facts: “The Complainant, Bharatiya Janata Party, is a leading political party in India, popularly referred to as BJP. The Complainant in alliance with other parties was in ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN CEO Snaps Back during ANA Over New TLDs - Beckstrom responds to advertising group with strongly worded letter. ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom has responded (pdf) to a letter (pdf) from Association of National Advertisers (ANA) that had demanded ICANN suspend its plans for the new top level domain name program. Beckstrom informs IANA that “The assertions in your letter are either incorrect or problematic in several respects.” He stresses that the program is the culmination of work with every stakeholder in the ... read more ...
Tue 9th August 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Court Say Sig Solares Of Directnic WAS Served Properly On Verizon Suit: A Good Law Lesson For All Of Us - A Federal Court in Tampa just rejected the argument of Sig Solare that he was not served properly In the case that was filed by Verizon against Directnic and a several officers and directors including Sig. The case was filed by Verizon against Directnic, Sig, Michael Gardner and other parties in March 2010. Its an interesting case about what it takes to be considered SERVED in a federal lawsuit. Most people think you have to have the lawsuit handed to you to be served. In this case the court found ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Nintendo 1-Ups for Popular SuperMario.com Web Site - Nintendo wants to lay claim to high traffic web site. Decades after bringing the iconic video game character Mario and the Super Mario series to millions of gamers, Nintendo has decided it wants the domain name SuperMario.com. The company just filed a complaint with World Intellectual Property Forum to get the domain name. Nintendo may be concerned about the content of the site, which is a collection of online Super Mario games. The site gets a whopping 200,000 visits ... read more ...
Mon 8th August 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Product Expansion? Toys ‘R’ Us Gets Tattoos ‘R’ Us Domain Name - Company gets a bunch of unusable domain names in arbitration case. Is it the right strategy? Before long, Toys ‘R’ Us might be able to get into the credit card, insurance, legal, and even tattoos businesses. OK, so it doesn’t really plan to, but it just won a domain name arbitration case for 21 domain names including ‘rus’ that it can probably never use. The case was filed against “The R Us Group” and includes domain names such as TattoosRUs.info, homebusinessopportunityrus.com, ... read more ...
Sat 6th August 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
.Jobs Foes Get Cold Shoulder From ICANN - Response to disclosure request mostly redacted. The .JOBS Charter Compliance Coalition, a group of companies opposed to the expansion of who can register .jobs domain names, has gotten the cold shoulder from ICANN in a recent request. The group made a request through ICANN’s Documentary Information Disclosure Policy (DIDP) for information on how and why the IANA database entry about the “purpose” of .jobs was changed. ICANN responded by releasing the support ... read more ...
Fri 5th August 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Federal Court Rules Domain Seizures Do Not Violate Free Speech & Loss of Domain Is Not A Substantial Hardship - Yesterday, United States District Court Judge Paul Crotty decided to deny Puerto 80′s request, which means the domain will remain in the hands of the U.S. Government. The Judge argues that seizing Rojadirecta’s .com and .org domains does not violate the First Amendment of the Constitution. “Puerto 80’s First Amendment argument fails,” the Judge writes. “Puerto 80 alleges that, in seizing the domain names, the Government has suppressed the content in the ‘forums’ on its websites, which ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Apple Goes After High Traffic iTunes Typo Domain Names - Apple asks arbitration panel to give it typo domain names. Apple has filed a dispute with World Intellectual Property Forum over two high traffic typos of iTunes.com. The complaint covers wwiTunes.com and wwwiTunes.com, both of which take advantage fat fingered web surfers who still insist on typing “www” before domain names. Compete.com shows that wwwiTunes.com gets thousands of unique typo visitors a month. Although the domains get traffic, Apple customers can’t ... read more ...