Tag Archives: legal

Wed 6th May 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Organizer of "Great Run" events intent in retreat domain name hijacking - Panel finds that group brought was attempting to reverse domain name hijack GreatRun.com. Nova International Limited, the company that organizes the Great Run series of events, has been found to have engaged in reverse domain name hijacking in a UDRP for GreatRun.com. The complainants use the domain name GreatRun.org, which it registered in 2002. Panelist Gabriela Kennedy gave three reasons she believes Nova International brought its case in abuse of the policy: 1. It likely chose a .org domain ... read more ...
Tue 5th May 2015
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Verisign wants obvious for "Searchable Web Whois" - Company files patent application for improved whois searching across multiple registries. Verisign has filed a patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a “searchable web whois”. The application was filed in 2012 and just published today. The patent application suggests that current whois search, especially across multiple registries, is hard. It claims that current services only search a single registry per search request, it’s difficult to index whois records in real time, it’s ... read more ...
Thu 30th April 2015
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ChinesePot.com owners can keep domain name notwithstanding not responding to UDRP - Owner of ChinesePod.com loses case against ChinesePot.com. Language instruction service Chinesepod Limited, which uses the domain name ChinesePoD.com, has lost a UDRP against the owner of ChinesePoT.com. It’s a case of a “typo” also being a common word. The owner of ChinesePot.com didn’t respond to the UDRP, but ChinesePod didn’t convince a World Intellectual Property panelist of the merits of its case. Although the parked page at ChinesePot.com consists of lots of links to language instruction, ... read more ...
Fri 24th April 2015
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Orient Express Travel Group intent in Reverse Domain Name Hijacking - Australian company didn’t disclose prior purchase attempt and its rights post-dated domain registration. A three person World Intellectual Property Organization panel has found Australian travel company Orient Express Travel Group to have engaged in reverse domain name hijacking. The travel company filed an aUDRP against the domain name etg.com.au. It uses the domain name etg.travel. The panel found that Orient Express Travel Group was less-than-forthcoming in its aUDRP filing. It didn’t disclose ... read more ...
Mon 20th April 2015
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Stolen domain name 608.com returned to owners in UDRP - Panel orders 608.com transferred back to its previous owner. An Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre (ADNDRC) panel has ordered the domain name 608.com be returned to its previous owner, who said the domain name was stolen from him. In the dispute, Complainant Chiu Tsen Hu said he purchased the domain name at Sedo in 2006 for $6,009. He has used it in various ways since then, including to promote his domain names for sale. He alleged that the domain name was stolen from his eNom account in ... read more ...
Fri 17th April 2015
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Judge denies suit to strike UDRP cases from MySchool.com pleadings - Plaintiff asked judge to forbid information about its two UDRP losses over the same domain to be used in pleadings. United States Magistrate Judge John F. Anderson has denied a motion to strike prior UDRPs from pleadings in a cybersquatting lawsuit filed over MySchool.com. Joseph Carpenter has lost two UDRPs against the domain name MySchool.com. After the second loss, he filed an in rem cybersquatting lawsuit against the domain name MySchool.com. The current owner of the domain, Original Web Ventures, ... read more ...
Mon 13th April 2015
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Bring out a Piñata: Fiesta.com UDRP fails - Panel rules domain name not registered in bad faith. A World Intellectual Property Organization panel has found in favor of the owner of the Fiesta.com domain name in a UDRP, although just one of three panelist found the complainant to have engaged in reverse domain name hijacking. Dean Simmons, Sàrl and Heintz Van Landewyck S.à.r.l. filed the UDRP against Fiesta.com. The company appears to have recently launched an e-cigarette under the Fiesta brand, but it also pulled up some old (and questioned) ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
WIPO row finds chemical association intent in RDNH - Panel determines that company submitted “selective and incomplete story”. A three person WIPO panel has found NH Resources LLC of Texas to have engaged in reverse domain name hijacking over the domain name No-Heat.net. It’s a bizarre case in which the parties have already been embroiled in lawsuits, there are allegations of bribery and a host of other issues. Without going down that rabbit hole, the panel determined that the complainants were not completely forthcoming in the UDRP. Because ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Brands blank a symbol with .Sucks defensive registrations - Knee-jerk reaction doesn’t make sense and leaves companies vulnerable. I’m not a fan of .sucks business model. I’m not a fan of charging big brands a premium to protect their brands with the veiled threat of someone creating a gripe site against the company. At the same time, I’m a bit flummoxed at the knee-jerk reaction some companies are taking with .sucks compared to other domains. They’re paying thousands of dollars to protect their brand.sucks domain name, but leaving many other potential ... read more ...
Fri 10th April 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Big brands register .Sucks as ICANN asks FTC for review - Oprah, Apple and Microsoft among companies paying to protect their brands. Intellectual property interests and brands owners are upset about the .sucks domain name and its pricing, but many big brands aren’t taking chances even as ICANN asks government regulators to review it. .Sucks registry Vox Populi continues to advertise which companies are coughing up dough to prevent their .sucks domains from being available to the general public. Some of the latest: Oprah (Oprah.sucks), Verizon (Verizon.sucks), ... read more ...
Thu 9th April 2015
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ICANN asks FTC and OCA to examination .Sucks - ICANN asks government agencies for feedback on .sucks plan. ICANN has sent a letter to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Canada’s Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA), asking them to consider if Vox Populi’s plans for the .sucks top level domain are violating any laws or regulations these agencies enforce. .Sucks registry Vox Populi has an interesting pricing model that charges some brand owners — including those that have tried to protect their brands in new domain names — a higher fee. The ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
MySchool.com domain name owners fights behind after lawsuit - Domain name owner alleges reverse domain name hijacking. Original Web Ventures has responded to a lawsuit filed against its domain name MySchool.com, and has made claims of its own against plaintiff Joseph Carpenter. Carpenter filed an in rem lawsuit against MySchool.com in February after losing two separate UDRP cases over the domain name. The lawsuit sought to get control of the domain name under the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. Carpenter runs a site at MySchool411.com. Original ... read more ...
Wed 8th April 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Uniform Rapid Suspension by a numbers - A look at which new top level domain names are getting hit with the most URS cases. Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) was introduced along with new top level domains as a sort of faster, cheaper version of UDRP. Companies can make a cybersquatting claim against a domain name in the abbreviated procedure. If they win, the domain name is suspended rather than transferred like it is in a UDRP. Both National Arbitration Forum (NAF) and Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre (ADNDRC) handle URS cases. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Donuts hurdles .Charity decision - Company invokes Independent Review Process over year-old objection decision. New top level domain name company Donuts has filed for an Independent Review Process over a community objection decision for .Charity. The Independent Objector filed community objections against both Donuts and Famous Four Media for their .charity applications. Surprisingly, the panelist ruled that the objection prevailed against Donuts but failed again Famous Four Media. The panelist’s decision was based on a Public Interest ... read more ...
Mon 30th March 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Royal Caribbean files lawsuit to constraint typos - Cruise line goes cruising for typos. Cruise company Royal Caribbean Cruises has filed an in rem lawsuit (pdf) against two typos of its RoyalCaribbean.com domain name. The two domains — RoyalCaribean.com and RoyalCarribean.com — forward to another domain name that is a lead gen site for cruises and is branded with “Royal Caribbean”. I wouldn’t be surprised if these domain names get a good bit of traffic. While writing this story I’ve confused the typo and correct version multiple times. It’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Chehadé : It was only a misunderstanding - ICANN CEO explains domain “hogging” comments made during the Davos Annual Meeting. ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé has responded (pdf) to a letter from Internet Commerce Association (ICA) regarding domain “hogging” comments he made in a Huffington Post interview. In a video interview with Huffington Post in January, Chehadé said: “The reality is, the more there are names, the less people will actually be hogging names in order to charge a lot for them. Because if somebody took your name on dot-x, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Interesting UDRP: FIMO.club - Potential use as a fan site for a product saves domain name for respondent. A single member World Intellectual Property Organization panel has denied a UDRP filed by Staedtler Mars GmbH for the domain name FIMO.club. Staedtler Mars GmbH sells a clay called FIMO that’s apparently popular with hobbyists. The respondent was an unauthorized distributor of the product at a different business and admits to registering a number of domain names with FIMO in them. She said she registered this domain to ... read more ...
Fri 27th March 2015
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IPC asks ICANN to hindrance argumentative .Sucks domain name hurl out - Calls it “predatory, exploitative and coercive” and points out bizarre contract with ICANN. The Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC) is asking (pdf) ICANN to halt Vox Populi’s roll out of the .sucks top level domain name, calling the registry’s unique pricing “predatory, exploitative and coercive”. The group is upset that Vox Populi plans to charge $2,499 to trademark owners to register their domains while offering a much cheaper price to non-trademark holders. The registry has also ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Optilead Ltd. intent in Reverse Domain Name Hijacking - WIPO panel determined UK company filed domain name dispute in bad faith. UK company Optilead Ltd has been found to have engaged in reverse domain name hijacking over the domain name Optilead.com. Optilead Ltd uses the domain name Optilead.co.uk for its shopping cart abandonment services. According the the World Intellectual Property Organization decision, Optilead.com was registered about 9 years before Optilead Ltd shows any trademark rights in the term Optilead. As such, panelist Alistair Payne ... read more ...
Mon 23rd March 2015
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Go Daddy Wins Important Section 230 Case - Eric Goldman published an article on what he deemed an important legal victory for Go Daddy. Go Daddy won a Section 230 case which involved some Teamsters Union members. Section 230 is a part of the Communications Deceny Act and it provides immunity for providers like Go Daddy hosting. From the article: GoDaddy won a Section 230 case in the Second Circuit. It’s a short and efficient ruling, but it’s a published opinion and the court says it’s the first Second Circuit opinion on Section 230 ... read more ...
Thu 19th March 2015
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ICANN bill offer shows new TLDs weaker than expected - As registrars predicted, 2015 forecast was too rosy. ICANN released its 2016 draft FY16 Operating Plan Budget for the fiscal year beginning this July, and it shows weaker-than-expected new top level domain name results in the current year. The group expects just $14.1 million in revenue from new TLDs for FY 2015 (which ends in June). That’s well below the budgeted $19.8 million. That $19.8 million number itself was a shadow of its original proposed forecast after ICANN slashed the number of new ... read more ...
Tue 17th March 2015
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Trademark King still wants to TM famous outlines and brands - Company submits specimens for many of its dubious trademark applications. Proof of use for a domain name owned by another person?The company that spent about $50,000 trying to trademark what are mostly famous brands, trademarks and common phrases is still pushing on after receiving initial refusals from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Indiana company Trademark King Inc filed over 150 trademark applications around Thanksgiving last year. The applications include a lot of famous brands (e.g. ... read more ...
Sun 15th March 2015
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Why Did It Take This TM Holder 10 Years To File A UDRP On The Parked Domain HumanRightsWatch.com? - Human Rights Watch was awarded the domain name HumanRightsWatch.com in a otherwise unremarkable UDRP opinion. “The organization has a United States Trademark on the term since 2003 and “uses the HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH mark to identify its efforts promoting and protecting human rights worldwide”. Respondent has not used the disputed domain name for a bona fide offering of goods or services, or a legitimate noncommercial or fair use.  Complainant alleges that Respondent uses the disputed domain ... read more ...
Fri 13th March 2015
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MarkMonitor: we won't distinction on .Sucks - Company will charge modest service fee on “Extortion domain”. Brand protection domain name registrar MarkMonitor says it understands its clients will feel compelled to pay for a .sucks domain name, but it won’t profit from the registrations. The company says it will charge just $25 above wholesale for the domain names. The registry has set a suggested retail price of $2,499 for a .sucks sunrise registration. Even without charging a mark-up, brand holders should expect to pay well over $1,000 ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Donuts hurdles ICANN's .Doctor decision - Stethoscope may be required to register a .Doctor domain name. Donuts has filed a reconsideration request after ICANN decided to slam the door on who can register a domain name under the .doctor top level domain name. Last month, ICANN’s New gTLD Program Committee determined that .Doctor should be a namespace restricted only to “legitimate medical practitioners”. This eliminates a number of possible uses of the .doctor domain name. For example, brands like Rug Doctor and Lawn Doctor wouldn’t ... read more ...