Tag Archives: legal

Fri 18th February 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Maybe we Was Right & Those Government Domain Seizures Weren’t Such A Good Idea After All - The news is full of stories the last couple of days on how during the the last domain seizure “raid” by Homeland Security 84,000 Innocent website wound up getting shut down. You can read some mainstream coverage on this issue here, here, and  here. However on the domainer side of things I have to give credit to Dotweekly.com who was first to pick up on this story and find out about all of the  unintended consequences of one site being seized which effected now what appears to be 84,000 websites. Much ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Microsoft Now To Allow Advertisers To Use Trademark Terms On Bing/Yahoo - According to a post on Microsoft’s blog, “In a major change in policy, Microsoft has decided to allow marketers to use other companies’ trademarks to trigger search ads.” “To come in line with search industry practices, as of March 3rd, Microsoft will cease editorial investigations into complaints about trademarks used as keywords to trigger ads on Bing Yahoo Search in the United States and Canada” “While trademark owners can legitimately object when their trademarks are used ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Zuccarini Files Another Lawsuit, This Time Adding ICANN to a List - Zuccarini sues three companies for negligence. John Zuccarini has filed another lawsuit (pdf) stemming from the sale of 14 domain names on NameJet. In this case he counts Network Solutions, NameJet, and now ICANN as defendants. Zuccarini owes the IRS and creditors $550,000, some of which involves a cybersquatting judgment against him. A court-appointed receiver was holding some of his domain names to satisfy these debts, but he accidentally let some of them expire. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
LionsDen.com Owner Wins Domain Dispute - WIPO panel rules in favor of domain name owner. The owner of LionsDen.com since 1995 can keep his domain name, a World Intellectual Property Organization UDRP panel has decided. Mile, Inc., which owns The Lion’s Den retail brand of adult entertainment products, filed the complaint arguing that the domain name infringed on its rights. The company faced an uphill battle since the domain name is generic and was registered some 15 years before it filed the complaint. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Is Bit.ly Toast if Libya Shuts Down a Internet? - It’s possible. One of my tweeps just sent me a link to an article questioning what would happen to .ly domain names if Libya decided to “shut down” the internet. It’s a very good question. One of the most popular URL shortening services, bit.ly, uses Libya’s .ly domain name. We can rewind a bit and note that this isn’t the first time this question has been asked, and look at what happened in Egypt for the answer. First things first, it doesn’t take ... read more ...
Thu 17th February 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
WIPO To Enter The Domain Seizure/Take Down Business? - According to IPwatch.com WIPO maybe the newest player wanting to get into the ever expanding, actually quite rapidly expanding,  business of Domain “take downs”and Domain Seizures. According to the article the World Intellectual Property Organization may create of an international “notice and takedown” system for alleged online trademark infringers.” “This will be followed in a few months by a separate proposal for a “notice-and-trackdown” article requiring internet service providers ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
The Senate Judiciary Hearing on Online Theft and Domain Seizure Turns On Google - A lot of attorneys spoke on Capital Hill yesterday on the Senate Judiciary hearing on Online Theft and Domain Seizure Bill. Counsels for Rosetta Stone, Verizon, Visa and  Christine Jones from Godaddy were among those invited to speak. At issue is the bill proposed by Senator Leahy which would give the feds even more rights to seize domains (although ICE has been doing plenty of this without such authority) Most of those that spoke agreed that the law was a good idea, needed to combat the sale and ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Nixes Jordan Meeting - Jordan meeting will be moved over security concerns. On Tuesday I wrote about how ICANN was heading to another hot spot in June for a meeting in Jordan. Now comes word via DomainIncite that ICANN is going to switch locations. Kevin Murphy reports that ICANN vice president of policy development support David Olive sent an email to members of the Generic Names Supporting Organization earlier today informing them of the change to an as-yet-unnamed location. Jordan is ... read more ...
Wed 16th February 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN: Definitely No Vote on New TLDs during Mar Meeting - No longer just a “probably not”. In case your glass-half-full optimism wouldn’t let go of the idea that ICANN’s Board of Directors would approve the new gTLD applicant guidebook at its March meeting in San Francisco, I’ve got news for you. It’s not going to happen. In a blog post today, ICANN outlines ongoing work with the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) on new TLDs. ICANN and the GAC are meeting in Brussels next month. Then it will have a bylaws-defined ... read more ...
Tue 15th February 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Uh-Oh. ICANN Traveling to Another Trouble Spot for Jun Meeting in Jordan. - Safety and security will be concerns once again for upcoming ICANN meeting. [UPDATE: ICANN will move the meeting to another location.] I’ve got to hand it to ICANN’s meeting planners. They have a penchant for choosing locales that give less-traveled attendees heartburn. This hit a pinnacle for last year’s Nairobi meeting, where many of the biggest companies and sponsors decided to stay home over security fears. (Nairobi was probably a safer venue than the March ... read more ...
Mon 14th February 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
CinemaCity.com Gets A Reverse Hijacking UDRP Ruling - Prime Pictures LLC of Dubai, bought a UDRP against DigiMedia.com who was  represented by John Berryhill on the domain name cinemacity.com The three member panel not only denied the complaint but held that the Complaint amounted to a  Reverse Domain Hijacking. Nice to see the panel looked at the facts and circumstances at the time of the registration of the domain and did not find as other panels have bad faith on the renewal of the domain. Here is the panel’s findings: “Cinemas are operated ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
VeriSign Scores a Win in Antitrust Lawsuit - Court rules plaintiffs don’t have standing to bring suit. A California court has dismissed a lawsuit brought by Coalition for ICANN Transparency (CFIT) against VeriSign for its .com and .net domain name contracts. The court ruling was first reported earlier today by DomainIncite. United States District Judge Ronald Whyte ruled that CFIT didn’t have standing to bring the antitrust lawsuit. The suit originally aimed to get ICANN to make a competitive bidding process ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Scott Day’s DigiMedia Wins Reverse Domain Hijacking Charge - WIPO panel finds complaint against DigiMedia.com was brought in bad faith. Legendary domain name investor Scott Day’s company DigiMedia.com has won a charge of reverse domain name hijacking against a Dubai company. Prime Pictures LLC filed the case in an attempt to get the domain name CinemaCity.com. But DigiMedia.com had registered the domain name way back in 1998, about 7 years before the complainant used “CinemaCity” in commerce. That clearly means the ... read more ...
Fri 11th February 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
President Obama Orders The Establish Of The “Intellectual Property Enforcement Committee” - This week President Obama signed an executive order establishing the Intellectual property Enforcement Committee. According to TechDirt.com, the order seems to give  high level folks in different federal government agencies coordinating their “enforcement” strategies, when they do things like seizing domains without due process or First Amendment considerations. Here is a copy of the order “”By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
SanDiego.com Dispute Goes to Court [Updated] - Former owner files breach of contract claim. [Update: I now have a copy of the complaint (pdf). It focuses on mostly alleged verbal contracts between Burgess and DeuPree for total damages of $185,00. It also alleges that when DeuPree negotiated to buy the site that he “and unknown collaborators planned for force Burgess from sandiego.com, the business Burgess founded, and refuse to honor agreements between Burgess and SanDiego.com.] Last year the original owner ... read more ...
Thu 10th February 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
A Game Changer? Court Awards Trademark Holder $292K In Damages Against Advertiser On Google Keywords - Although several courts have held that Google is not liable for selling ads to a competitor under a trademarked keyword a Federal Court has just held the advertiser is liable for buying the ads. A California federal district court has just held that a law firm specializing in disability law WAS liable under the Lanham Act for purchasing advertising on Google Adwords under a trademark, in this case,  the law firm name “Binder Binder” . The case  Binder v. Disability Group Inc., C.D. Cal., ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Be Very Afraid of UDRP Reform - Domain investors have uphill battle in UDRP reform. UDRP reform is coming. And this should scare the crap out of you. Now let me get a few things out there: 1. I’ve never been a party in a UDRP case 2. I’ve read (and written) about many UDRP cases where the wrong decision was made Thus I’m a fan of fixing some of the inequalities in UDRP, the lack of contracts with UDRP providers, etc. But let’s be honest. When’s the last time domain investors got what ... read more ...
Wed 9th February 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Is Ferrari A CyberSquatter? Ford Sues Ferrari Over Its Registration of FerrariF150.com But Ford Doesn’t Even Own F150.com or FordF150.com - According to theF1Times.com, Ford filed suit again Ferrari over the use of the “F150″ name. Ferrari’s now has a  2011 car by the same name. Ford is suing Ferrari over its registration of the ferrariF150.com domain name, which it claims goes against the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act and is seeking.$100,000 in damages. The lawsuit claims Ford has suffered irreparable harm to its F-150 brand and is claiming unspecified damages as well as banning the use of the name on any Ferrari ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
UDRP Cases Spike in 2010 - Number of cases filed in 2010 increases thanks largely to brand protection services. The number of Uniform domain-name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP)cases filed at the two largest arbitration providers increased over 25% in 2010 compared to 2009, a Domain Name Wire analysis shows. However, the rate of filing defined as the number of cases divided by the number of registered domains remains near an all time low. World Intellectual Property Forum handled 2,696 cases ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
UDRP Panel Transfers PayBack.es Domain Name - Generic domain name to be transferred as result of arbitration decision. Is the term “payback” generic? Of course it is. It has many potential uses. Still, a World Intellectual Property Forum panelist has awarded the Spanish ccTLD Payback.es to Germany’s Payback GmbH. The complainant offered to buy the domain name from the domain owner for a nominal sum, after which the owner said the complainant needed to make a “serious” offer. The respondent didn’t ... read more ...
Tue 8th February 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Considers Bringing Whois Escrow In House - ICANN considers future of Registrar Data Escrow Program. Domain Name Wire has learned that ICANN is considering handling whois escrow services internally. Registrar Data Escrow Program (RDE) is currently managed by Iron Mountain Intellectual Property Management, a third party. Its contract ends in November. RDE is a program that escrows a registrar’s whois information in case of registrar failure. In a survey sent to domain name registrars, ICANN asks respondents ... read more ...
Fri 4th February 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
UDRP Panel Weighs in on Domain Broker Responses - Jeff, your point is well taken, and relates to what Michael asked above. The point here is that what is relevant to the UDRP is an intention of registering a domain name with the “primary purpose of selling to to the Complainant or a competitor”. What’s been happening, across the board, is that people have registered and been using domain names for years and years, and then someone in the Complainant’s organization hits up a broker, such as Sedo, Marksmen, Buydomains, and so ... read more ...
Thu 3rd February 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
The ICA Blasts The Department Of Commerce Letter To ICANN Committee: “May Mean The End Of New gTLDs” - Phil Corwin on behalf of the Internet Commerce Association just published an article on CircleId.com, blasting the US Department of Commerce over the letter it sent to “ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) containing suggestions for what positions the GAC should push for at its February 28 meeting” This is an important issue and you should read through the entire letter. “”On Friday, January 28th the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) circulated its submission to  — March 1 ... read more ...
Wed 2nd February 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
AllState Files 19 UDRP Cases In One Day - Insurance company revs up domain dispute engine. Allstate Insurance Company has filed 19 individual UDRP cases in one day. The 19 cases are current pending compliance review at World Intellectual Property Organization and mostly cover typos. Examples include allostate.com, allsrate.com, and allstaye.com. Other domain names include various financial and insurance products such as allstatefinance.com and allstateglassclaims.com. These new filings are on top of 15 ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Pac-10 Asks Arbitrator for Pac12.com Domain Name - Collegiate conference wants Pac12.com domain name. After last year’s conference realignment the Pac-10 now has 12 teams. As it looks to rebrand itself as the Pac-12 it ran into a snag — it doesn’t own Pac12.com. The conference just filed a domain name dispute with World Intellectual Property Forum against the owner of Pac12.com to get the domain name. But the owner of that domain is throwing up a smoke screen with a page geared to the late rapper Tupac. ... read more ...