Tag Archives: legal

Tue 29th June 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
University of Texas Loses Domain Name Dispute - University loses fight for TexasSports.org. I have to admit I’m a bit ashamed of my alma mater today. The University of Texas lost a UDRP case against Kevin Ham’s Vertical Axis for the domain name TexasSports.org. The University’s official athletics site is TexasSports.com, and it was concerned that some people might type in .org instead of .com. This is plausible given that it’s a non-profit. TexasSports.com gets over 300,000 visits per month. Still, the ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Verify your .Cn Email Address in 15 Days or You Might Lose your Domain - CNNIC wants you to verify your email address, like, today. This may sound like a really bad phishing scheme, but it’s coming from a legitimate source. RRPproxy is reporting that all owners of China’s .cn domain names are receiving an email notice to verify their registrant information. Failure to respond within 15 days may mean your domain name is processed according to “relevant provisions of the Registry”, which RRPproxy says means the domain name could ... read more ...
Mon 28th June 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
.XXX Poll Hits Front Page of CNN.com - Possible new top level domain name gets even more exposure. If you’re ICM Registry, you couldn’t ask for better publicity for the .xxx top level domain name: CNN has a poll on its home page asking people “Do you think pornographic websites should have their own “.xxx” domain?” So far a whopping 272,555 have voted in the poll. 83% have answered “Yes”. It’s an unscientific poll, and who knows the thinking behind why people are answering “yes”. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New Company Wants to Help Unmask Private Whois Records - A possible new entrant into the trademarked domain recovery industry. NameDepot.com, Inc. has filed a trademark application for “RealRegistrant”, with services described as: Application service provider, namely service, software, database, web interface, and technical support for users to obtain information about the owner or registrant of a domain name when the WHOIS information is obscured by a domain name WHOIS Privacy or Proxy service; domain name information ... read more ...
Fri 25th June 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan Get IDN Country Code Top Level Domain Names - Asian language top level domains coming to the internet. The Board of ICANN has approved the delegation of two Chinese-character country code top level domain names to China, two to Taiwan, and one to Hong Kong. During ICANN’s board meeting today in Brussels, ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom called it a historic moment: Just one brief remark and that is to say this is a truly historic moment. More than one out of five people who walk on this planet speak Chinese as ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
.XXX Resolution Approved, But Red Tape Could Slow Down Introduction - .XXX still has hurdles before it becomes a top level domain name. As expected, ICANN’s board approved a resolution today that allows ICM Registry’s .xxx application to move forward. But there are hurdles, or at least red tape, between now and the introduction of the top level domain name. Reading the resolution aloud during ICANN’s board meeting today, board chairman Peter Dengate Thrush noted several steps that remain: -The staff must conduct expedited due ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Former Justice Department Chief Blasts ICANN Decision on .XXX - Trueman says decision was “foolish and unnecessary”. Pat Trueman, former Chief of the U.S. Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, called ICANN’s decision on .xxx today “foolish and unnecessary” in an interview with Domain Name Wire. Trueman served in the Justice Department starting with Ronald Reagan in 1988 to the end of the administration of George H. W. Bush. Trueman said ICANN’s board appears to be caught up with process in ... read more ...
Thu 24th June 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Board Set to Approve .XXX Domain Friday - .XXX to get green light, but the value to ICM registry has wilted. Ex-ICANN staffer Kieren McCarthy is reporting that ICANN’s general counsel has spilled the beans on .xxx, saying ICANN will approve the new top level domain name tomorrow during its board meeting. Make no mistake, this is a monumental moment for ICANN. If it were up to the organization it would have let .xxx die years ago. But an independent review panel found ICANN erred. And, despite having ... read more ...
Wed 23rd June 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
AOL Ad.com Trademark Claim Refused as Generic - Trademark examiner refuses Ad.com trademark again. AOL’s continued battle to trademark a domain name it doesn’t even own has hit another roadblock. On June 21, a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office examiner refused the trademark for Ad.com on the grounds that it’s generic. The USPTO previously refused the mark because Ad.com was merely descriptive of AOL’s services. In response, AOL amended the application to add a claim of acquired distinctiveness. In refusing ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Fairwinds Says Typosquatting Costs $327 million, Based on $2.74 Per Click - Report makes some lofty estimates for typosquatting. Fairwinds Partners, the group behind Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse, released a study today suggesting that typosquatting costs the 250 most visited web sites $327 million per year. Like the creators of many studies, Fairwinds has something to sell — services to the very brands that are affected by typosquatting. There are a number of assumptions in Fairwinds’ report, and also a lot of references to its ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Company Says Woman Has No Right to Her First Name in Domain Dispute - Company claims women has no rights to her first name. Let’s say your first name is, I don’t know…Andrew. And you register Andrew.com. There are of course companies that use the name “Andrew” as well. Could they claim that you have no rights to the term “Andrew” and be able to get that domain name through UDRP? Of course not. But that’s what Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A., which published an Italian women’s magazine Grazia, tried to do to ... read more ...
Tue 22nd June 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Australia Proposes New Rules On Domains & Requires Every Internet User To Have Anti-Virus Programs On Their Computers - According to the inquisitr.com, an Australian governmental committee is proposing a whole set of new rules on internet users, domain owners, and registrars. “””The Hackers, Fraudsters and Botnets: Tackling the Problem of Cyber Crime report from the House Standing Committee on Communications Inquiry into Cyber crime makes 34 different recommendations”” Recommendation 20 of the bill states that domain name registrars must filter applications for domain names to attempt to identify any ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ESPN Wants ESPN3d.com Domain Name For New 3D Network - Sports network asks arbitration panel to give it domain name for new 3D network. Sports network ESPN has filed a complaint with National Arbitration Forum to get the domain name ESPN3d.com. The company announced its new ESPN 3D network in January, saying that it would show 85 sporting events in 3D during its first year. The 3D broadcasting kicked off this month with matches from the World Cup, but the network still doesn’t have the ESPN3D.com domain name. It ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Will ICANN Insiders Get Leg Up with New TLDs? - I have read the Tim-Berners Lee and his opposition to .mobi and .xxx. I disagree entirely with the notion that .com is the only king and any other TLD are useless and could have no value to their appropriate constituencies and communities. So Tim-Berners should have a little talk with the 1.3+ million that have signed the .music initiative and tell them that they wanting their .music is not in the public interest or in their interest, even though they want it. Also it depends on the ... read more ...
Mon 21st June 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
This Week, Another Chance to Act on .XXX and What it Means for New gTLDs - ICANN’s actions on .xxx go well beyond this one top level domain. ICANN’s Board of Directors will once again consider what to do with the .xxx top level domain name during its board meeting at the culmination of the Brussels meeting this week. More than just a decision on a mistake ICANN made long ago, this will act as a bellwether on the new top level domain process. Why? It will show us how much of a stomach ICANN has for controversy when it comes to introducing ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
KnujOn Calls eNom “Active Facilitator of Illicit Criminal Traffic” - KnujOn calls out eNom for pharmacy sites. Internet security research group KnujOn isn’t afraid to pick a fight. And its latest report (pdf) picks a big one, going after 162 domain name registrars including eNom, the second biggest in the world. It even says that eNom is an “active facilitator of illicit criminal traffic”. But that logic is based on the idea that everything illegal on the internet usually involves a domain name, and you should blame the registrar. Before ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Owner of MyCyty Mark Goes After MyCity.com - The dates tell the story. The owner of a trademark for “MyCyty” has failed in his attempt to get the domain name MyCity.com through UDRP. That someone would go after the correctly spelled version of their made up trademark is a bit surprising. But the circumstances in this case are particularly egregious. It should be clear to anyone who visits MyCity.com that it is being used for a bona fide purpose by its owner, 411WEB Directory. Even if it weren’t, the ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Red Bull Wastes $100k’s on Domain Disputes - Red Bull spends big bucks disputing domains, then let’s them go. Is it possible that Red Bull’s lawyers are too caffeinated when they file domain name disputes through UDRP? More than perhaps any other company, Red Bull finds itself winning domains at UDRP that are “canceled” instead of “transferred”. This means that the current registration is deleted and the domains become available for re-registration rather than being transferred to the winner. I’ve ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Name Administration Reaches Settlement over Cheat Code Mark - Company settles trademark dispute. Frank Schilling’s company Name Administration has reached a settlement with the holder of a trademark for Cheat Code, according to documents at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Late last year CheatCodes.com LLC started going after people who had “cheat code” in their domain names, thanks to somehow slipping the generic term “Cheat Code” past a USPTO examiner. It went after small webmasters, but also sent a demand ... read more ...
Sun 20th June 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Sedo.com’s Contract Protects Sedo, But Not Sellers Or Buyers - Almost 2 months ago I won an auction at Sedo for TrademarkLawyer.com for just under $10K.  This was one of 7 legal domains one seller put up for auction.  The total winning bids for the 7 domains totaled almost $200K.  (You can read the entire story here). Shortly after the auction ended the Seller notified Sedo that he was not going to transfer the domains.  After a cure period of 30 days Sedo declared the Seller in Default. Since the Seller lives in the Tampa Bay area, I asked my long time ... read more ...
Fri 18th June 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
3 Deadbeat Domain Registrars Bite a Dust - Three inactive registrars terminated for failure to pay accreditation fees. ICANN has sent notices of termination to three domain name registrars for failure to pay past due accreditation fees. Each of the three domain name registrars — Abansys Hostytec, S.L, NameHouse, Inc., and Gee Whiz Domains, In.c — owe between $7,000 and $13,500 each. According to the termination notices sent to each registrar, ICANN sent numerous notices to the registrars notifying ... read more ...
Wed 16th June 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
UDRP Panelist Opens Door for Cases to be Refiled - Two words open door for companies to refile UDRP cases. In the legal world when a case is dismissed “without prejudice” it means the door has been left open for the plaintiff to file the case again at a future date. This is typically used when a case is dismissed, not when a case is found against the plaintiff. The generally accepted rule for a UDRP filing is that a complainant can’t file a case for the same domain name twice unless something notable comes ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Court Denies Emergency Injunction for Zuccarini Domains Sold during NameJet - Just filed for VeriSign, let’s see what they say… A. The Illegal Transfer of John Zuccarini’s Domain Names and VeriSign’s Culpability. There are two central issues before The Court related to VeriSign Inc. (“VeriSign”) the registrar for all .com and .net domain names, and it’s working relationship with all .com and .net registrars. That is, does a domain name registry have the power to correct an illegal action by a domain name registrar, as in this case the illegal transfer ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New Economic Study: Limit New TLD Rounds To Measure Effects - New ICANN-sanctioned report suggests limiting new TLD application rounds in order to collect more data. ICANN has published its latest hired economic report on the costs and benefits of introducing new top level domain names. Unlike the last report from a different author, this one lays out clear logic rather than just playing to the hands of ICANN. It is a well reasoned report that lays out the truth about the costs and benefits of new TLDs, and comes to a conclusion ... read more ...
Tue 15th June 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Here’s Some Good Advice: Let Go, Your Lego Domains - One thing I’ve noticed watching the daily WIPO decisions as they come down, every week seems to bring another case involving  “Lego”. So I did some research and found it wasn’t my imagination. So far in 2010 there have been 69 cases filed according to UDRPSearch.com, by the toymaker. and this is just the middle of June. From 2009 to date there have been over 100 cases filed by the toymaker. Of course some of the case involve mulitple domains. To date, every decided case has resulted in the ... read more ...