Tag Archives: legal

Tue 23rd June 2015
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Namecheap Launches Respectourprivacy.com To Save Private Whois Registrations - Namecheap.com, in association with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Fight For The Future (FFTF), launched the website Respectourprivacy.com to allow people to file a comment with ICANN letting them know they object to the proposed rule that would greatly restrict the use of privacy or proxy services on whois records of domain names. ICANN public comment period closes on July 7th midnight UTC. As of yesterday there were only 8 comments posted to the ICANN site. Today there are 833. The ... read more ...
Fri 19th June 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Cheap domain names are spammers' favorites - New report shows that spammers love some of the cheap new domain name options. Spammers churn through a lot of domain names. As soon as deliverability sinks with one, they move on to the next. That might explain this chart in Architelos’ June NameSentry Abuse Report: The bulk of improper use of new top level domain names is spam, and this chart shows which new TLDs are being abused the most. See a pattern here? All of the big ones are cheap domains. In fact, all of the domains on this chart can ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
WordPress Foundation sues owners of WordPress domain names - Group goes after company promoting WordPress assistance with domain names that include “WordPress”. WordPress Foundation, the charitable organization founded by Matt Mullenweg for the WordPress open source project, has sued the owner of TheWordPressHelpers.com and other domains. The lawsuit alleges that Edward Jeffrey Yablon and PC-VIP, Inc. are infringing WordPress’ trademarks and that the use of the domain names constitutes cybersquatting. The defendants own a number of WordPress related ... read more ...
Tue 16th June 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Commercial Connect fails miserably in Community Priority bid - Proving a community for “shop” proves very difficult. .Shop top level domain name applicant Commercial Connect has been denied (pdf) in its bid for Community Priority, scoring just five points out the necessary 14 required to prevail. Like GMO, which also applied for community status, Commercial Connect didn’t score any points for “community establishment” and nexus. GMO got six points in its evaluation. Commercial Connect has been a harebrained mission to eliminate competition for .shop. ... read more ...
Thu 11th June 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Canada responds to ICANN about .Sucks - Move along, now… John Knubley, Deputy Minister of Industry Canada, has responded (pdf) to the letter ICANN sent to both the U.S. FTC and Canada regarding the .sucks domain name. Knubley basically states that this is not a matter for the government, and that if intellectual property rights holders think a .sucks domain infringes their mark, they already know what to do about it: Canada’s laws provide comprehensive protections for all Canadians. Canada has intellectual property, competition, criminal ... read more ...
Wed 10th June 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
The hurdles of detailed trademarks - Two lawsuits show that descriptive brands have a downside. I came across a couple recently filed trademark lawsuits that emphasize the challenge of building a brand around a descriptive term. The first was filed by Texas company Peanut Labs, Inc., which operates the site SurveyTool.com. The company is upset with Instantly, Inc for using the term “Survey Tool”. (Lawsuit PDF) Survey tool is very descriptive. It’s a tool for surveys. If you Google “Survey Tool”, you’ll find a bunch of services ... read more ...
Tue 9th June 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Court earnings stolen 224.com, 605.com and 452.com domain names - Three number domain names returned to rightful owner after lawsuit. A U.S. Federal Court has ordered the domain names 224.com, 605.com and 452.com be returned to Traffic Names, Ltd. Ian Andrew of Traffic Names filed suit last year alleging the domain names were stolen from his eNom account. He found out about the theft after the domain names were listed for sale on domain name marketplace 4.cn. 4.cn noticed the recent ownership change and contacted Andrew to make sure he was aware. ESQWire.com and ... read more ...
Thu 4th June 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Watch Stuart Lawley urge .Porn and .Adult - The man behind .porn, .adult and .xxx is asked to defend his business model. ICM Registry CEO Stuart Lawley was on Bloomberg yesterday. Bloomberg’s Emily Chang asked him to defend the business model of selling .porn and .adult domain names. Doesn’t this force celebrities and brands to pay up to protect themselves? Lawley talked about how new top level domain names in general provide more choice for businesses. He also noted that brands also have to protect themselves in bricks-and-mortar businesses. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
St. Louis bank sues to take over dispute domains - Bank and board member file cybersquatting claim over two domain names they call defamatory. Midwest BankCentre, a bank in St. Louis, has filed a lawsuit to get control of the domain names MidwestBankCheated.com and JerryScheideggerCheatedMe.com. Jerry Scheidegger is a board member of the bank. Both domain names lead to content making allegations about the bank and a foreclosure. The allegations are made in response to a foreclosure in which the person claims Scheidegger was enriched after buying ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
An engaging Google domain name parking obvious application - Idea sounds a lot like zero click monetization. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office just published a Google patent application related to domain name parking. Named Systems and Methods of Providing Parked Domain Content, application 13/631472 (embedded below) should give pause to providers of zero click domain monetization solutions. Essentially, the patent application describes a system in which a total advertising value is assigned to a parked page. An advertiser can then bid to be the exclusive ... read more ...
Wed 3rd June 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
University of Florida gets FloridaGators.com…18 years later - Site owner changed use to one about alligators after receiving cease desist letter. The University of Florida will soon own the domain name FloridaGators.com after winning a cybersquatting dispute. The domain name was registered by a Florida man as far back as 1997, 18 years ago. For years, it was a site about the University of Florida’s sports teams. Here’s a screenshot from Screenshots.com from a couple years ago: In March, the university sent a cease and desist to the site’s owner. According ... read more ...
Thu 28th May 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Harvard sues visit UDRP crook to have the domains disabled - Company that lost four UDRP complaints if filed against others might be at risk of losing its own domain name. Harvard has sued a handful of companies it says have copied its trademarked exam questions. Among these companies is one that lost four UDRP cases in a single week — Certplex, Ltd. Certplex lost four UDRPs for domain names including the term “Braindumps”. One of Certplex’s sites offering test prep is Braindumps.com. According to the complaint filed by Harvard, Certplex publishes ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
FTC to ICANN on .Sucks: Yeah, we told we this would happen - FTC wants ICANN to address overarching issues with new TLDs rather than one-off cases. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has responded to ICANN’s request that it investigate the practices of top level domain name registry Vox Populi over its rollout of the .sucks domain name. I’d summarize its response as: “yeah, we told you this would happen with your rollout of new TLDs”. FTC’s Chairwoman Edith Ramirez wrote (pdf) that the FTC cannot comment on the existence of any pending investigations, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
NAF row orders send of FatTuesday.com to owners of Fat-Tuesday.com - Panel really screwed this one up. A three person National Arbitration Forum panel has ordered the transfer of the domain name FatTuesday.com to David Briggs Enterprises, Inc. The complainant operates bars under the name Fat Tuesday and uses the inferior domain name Fat-Tuesday.com. Of course, Fat Tuesday is also the name for what many of us think of as Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras is French for “Fat Tuesday”. Type “Fat Tuesday” into Google, and it duly pops up the date of this holiday. Amazingly, ... read more ...
Wed 27th May 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
What Fadi Chehadé should do in his final year as ICANN's CEO - Here’s what companies and people want to see ICANN’s outgoing CEO accomplish before he leaves the post. ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé made the surprise announcement last week that he would step down from his role as CEO of the organization next March. I reached out to a number of companies and people in the ICANN community to ask what they would most like to see Chehadé accomplish in this last ten months at the head of the internet group. Elliot Noss, CEO of Tucows: If Fadi were to take practical ... read more ...
Fri 22nd May 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
2 domain name owners don't respond though win UDRPs - Panelists do their job by evaluating cases on their merits. The owners of Marlboro.reviews and PoolFactory.com can keep their domain names, despite not responding to UDRPs. Although respondents can win a UDRP without responding, panelists typically give the benefit of the doubt to the complainant in these cases. In one recent case, a panelist even asked the complainant to amend the case to make it easier to side with it! One of the two cases was brought by The Pool Factory, Inc for the domain name ... read more ...
Thu 21st May 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain definitions: whois remoteness vs. whois proxy - What’s the difference between whois privacy and whois proxy? With talk in Washington and policy circles about whois privacy, I think it would be good to define both whois privacy and whois proxy, and discussed how the terms are usually used. Traditionally, whois privacy has referred to a service in which the owner of a domain name is listed in the public whois record contacts, but the privacy service’s contact details (phone, address, email et al) are listed instead of the owner’s. This makes ... read more ...
Mon 18th May 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Panelist asks complainant to cgange the box to obstacle domain purebred in 1995 - Domain wasn’t registered in bad faith, but panelist asks complainant to make a different argument. I’m dumbfounded. A single member UDRP panelist with National Arbitration Forum has ordered the domain name VideoLink.com be transferred — after, apparently, asking the complainant to modify its argument to the panelist’s liking. VideoLink, Inc. said it started using the VideoLink term in commerce in 1999. Xantech Corporation registered the domain name in 1995, so the respondent could not have ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Stolen domain GPZ.com recovered by cybersquatting claim - National Arbitration Forum panel orders stolen domain name be returned to its longtime owner. An allegedly stolen three letter domain name has been returned to its previous owner through a UDRP cybersquatting claim. Mountain View, California software company GPZ Technology, Inc. registered GPZ.com in 1996. The domain name was apparently stolen from its 11 domain name registrar account earlier this year and transferred to Registrar of Domain Names REG.RU LLC. GPZ provided a police report to the panel. Although ... read more ...
Fri 15th May 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Doh! UDRP complainant admits domain name not purebred in bad faith - Complainant tries to argue that domain name owner forfeited rights to domain name by not using it. A simple call to a lawyer could have prevented a Minnesota dog charity from being labeled a reverse domain name hijacker. Can Do Canines, which owns the domain name can-do-canines.org, has been found to have engaged in reverse domain name hijacking over the domain name candocanines.org. The respondent didn’t have to do much to persuade panelist Nathalie Dreyfus. After all, the complainant admitted ... read more ...
Wed 13th May 2015
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Here Is The Statement Phil Corwin Of The ICA Will Be Giving To The House Judiciary Committee - Here is the Statement of Philip S. Corwin,  Counsel, Internet Commerce Association   will give today to the House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet The hearing is entitled: “Stakeholder Perspectives on ICANN: The .Sucks Domain and Essential Steps to Guarantee Trust and Accountability in the Internet’s Operation” The hearing should have a live webcast here and is scheduled to start at 10am EST Here is Mr. Corwin statement and there are some ... read more ...
Tue 12th May 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Major.com UDRP denied, though no RDNH - A UDRP for a major domain name. A single member World Intellectual Property Organization panel has denied a UDRP filed by Major Wire Industries Limited against the owner of Major.com. Panelist Christopher S. Gibson declined to find reverse domain name hijacking, though. Major Wire Industries has been around since the 1800s, and decided to go after Major.com some 130 years after it was founded (and 20 years after Major.com was first registered). The company tried to buy the domain name, but didn’t ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Co. With 13K Employees, 2,700+ Stores Found Guilty Of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking on Mango.uk - Consolidated Artists B.V. of  Rotterdam Netherlands was just found guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH) on the domain names Mango.co.uk and Mango.uk Its only the 5th time in 13 years that a company has been found guilty of RDNH on a .co.uk or .uk domain It should be noted that this is not a UDRP decision. Nominet the operator of the  .uk ccTLD extension has a procedure which is similar to a UDRP but has its own get of rules called a DRS which is published on Nominet’s website at: http://www.nominet.org.uk/sites/default/files/drs_expert_overview.pdf. And ... read more ...
Mon 11th May 2015
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
.Sucks Registry Goes On Offense & Threatens To Sue ICANN For Defamation/Breach of Contract - In a sternly worded letter sent to ICANN today by the attorney’s representing Vox Populi the operator of the .Sucks registry put ICANN on notice that they believe ICANN has defamed the registry and its own rules and regulation and made it clear a lawsuit maybe forthcoming The letter was written by R. David Hosp a principal  in the law firm of the New York firm of Fish Richardson P.C. Here is the letter unedited, our comments follow: “”This firm represents ICANN’s contractual partner, Vox ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Kite.com UDRP denied, though no RDNH - Panelist tells complainant to go fly a kite. A single member National Arbitration Forum panel has denied a UDRP filed on the domain name Kite.com, but has not found complainant Kite Solutions, Inc. guilty of reverse domain name hijacking. Kite Solutions just got a trademark on “Kite” last year, and Kite.com was registered in 1995. It was pretty much a slam dunk case for the domain name owner, but this case introduced some interesting discussion of what happens when a domain name is leased. The ... read more ...