Tag Archives: legal

Tue 16th March 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Yahoo Gets Patent for Behavioral Ad Targeting - Search company granted patent for delivering ads based on user profile and behavioral information. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued U.S. Patent 7,680,786 (pdf) to Yahoo! today for “Optimization of targeted advertisements based on user profile information”. The invention covers using both behavioral and user profile information in combination with traditional keyword and event driven factors to deliver targeted ads. For example, a user might enter a ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Another French City Loses Fight for Geo Domain Name - Tignes loses domain name dispute for Tignes.com. Ah, France. Beautiful vistas, tasty food, and governments that think they have all rights to their city names. Following in the footsteps of Paris, Tignes has lost a UDRP for the domain name Tignes.com. Commune de Tignes originally filed a complaint against the domain owners in Tribunal de grande instance de Lyon (French Court), arguing that the domain name infringed the Complainant’s figurative trademark TIGNES. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Canon Announces Plans for .Canon Top Level Domain Name - USA.canon instead of USA.canon.com? Electronics company Canon has announced plans to apply for the .canon top level domain name, when such domain names become available. In a press release, Canon states: With the adoption of the new gTLD system, which enables the direct utilization of the Canon brand, Canon hopes to globally integrate open communication policies that are intuitive and easier to remember compared with existing domain names such as “canon.com.” ... read more ...
Mon 15th March 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Registry – Registrar Integration Debate Far from Over for New TLDs - Some integration between registries and registrars likely for new TLDs. Last week I reported about an ICANN board resolution that called for “strict separation of entities offering registry services and those acting as registrars. No co-ownership will be allowed.” In other words, domain name registrars such as Go Daddy and eNom would not be able to own a domain name registry similar to Neustar or VeriSign. Well, the resolution is only half the story. Now that ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New UDRP Goes into Effect Today – Still No Response from ICANN - Yes, we do disagree on that. I think that if we *had to* balance the interests, I do not hold domain owners up as more important than ethical and free trade. But, I can respect your position as being simply one of differing values. However, I don’t see that any legitimate registrants could possibly be harmed by this. *Legitimate* registrants are those who stay far from others’ IP rights and who update their Whois information. Seems kind of easy to do. Also, I disagree with ... read more ...
Sun 14th March 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Breaking: Thought Convergence and Jay Westerdal Settle - Fallout from acquisition resolved in confidential settlement. At long last, Thought Convergence and Jay Westerdal et al have settled their lawsuit stemming from Thought Convergence’s acquisition of Westerdal’s Name Intelligence. The parties participated in a second mediation session with Hon. George P. Schiavelli (Ret.) on March 10, during which both parties came to a settlement. Terms of the settlement are confidential. A court document notifying the court ... read more ...
Fri 12th March 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Delays .XXX (Again) - .XXX decision pushed until next ICANN meeting. Should we really be so surprised? ICANN’s board has decided not to act on the independent review of its decision to deny ICM Registry the .xxx top level domain name. Until further comment. Insert joke about delayed sexual gratification here. ICANN has punted. “Let’s think about this some more” is the message, a message that ICANN has sent for years on a variety of topics. The ICANN board originally authorized ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Shocker: ICANN Nixes Expressions of Interest for New TLDs - No Expressions of Interest for new top level domain names. I guess I’m not in the internal loop at ICANN, but I’m surprised that its board voted to completely nix the idea of “Expressions of Interest” for new top level domain names. The idea was simple. If you want to apply for a new top level domain name, you would make a $55,000 deposit per TLD and name the string. This would resolve a whole host of issues. First, we’d know how many TLDs will be applied ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Board Drops Bomb on Registrars Hoping to Launch New TLDs - Board opts for separation of registrars and registries for new top level domain names. [Update: Minutes from board meeting emphasize pending plan from GNSO.] ICANN’s board resolved today that there will be “strict separation of entities offering registry services and those acting as registrars. No co-ownership will be allowed.” However, the board left the possibility open for compromise, stating that if the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) comes ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Poll: How Long Until New Top Level Domain Names? - When do you think new TLDs will be available for registration? Another ICANN meeting has wrapped up. Blows were dealt to many, but some progress was made. With EOI off the table, the focus is on settling the “overarching issues”. The intellectual property constituency, which didn’t show up to Nairobi, was perhaps the biggest winner. New TLDs are going to happen. It’s a matter of when. During Domainer Mardi Gras, I asked my panel when they thought new TLDs ... read more ...
Thu 11th March 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Utah House and Senate Pass CADNA Backed Trademark Bill, Why This Is VERY Bad News For Domainers - The “UTAH E-COMMERCE INTEGRITY ACT” which was just introduced in December of 2009, passed the Utah Senate last month, was voted into law by the Utah House today. When I first wrote about this bill in December,  it was meet with the usual domainer apathy I see when I write about something that can have huge negative effects on their holdings. Sine then, the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) has been lobbying very hard to get this bill passed, even holding a meeting in Washington in ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Another Generic Domain Lost In WIPO When Domain Holder Fails To Respond: 7Days.com - In a WIPO decision issued today a pretty generic domain domain,  7Days.com was awarded to a the owner of a trademark registered in Greece and Portugal. Although the domain was parked, none of the links were alleged to go to the trademark owners site or competitors site, just a general parking page. “”The Panel finds on the undisputed evidence of the Complainant that the Respondent has not used or made demonstrable preparations to use the Domain Name for a bona fide offering of goods or services. ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Sedo Fined 95,000 Euro’s By A French Court For A Parked Page & Ordered To Post The Verdict - If you think the trademark laws are tough in the United States, you should check out the french laws. If you visit Sedo’s home page for France, you will see on the bottom of the front page a judgment of a French court entered against Sedo for a total of 95,000 Euro’s for apparently just parking a domain its didn’t own. The case involved the domain Euridile.fr, which the court found infringed on the trademark of EURIDILE owned by the National Institute of Intellectual Property (INPI). On February ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
American Express Wants .Me Domain, Samsung Goes After ccTLDs - American Express gets into .me UDRP game, Samsung starts collecting ccTLDs. American Express has joined a list of companies to use domain name arbitration to get their .me domain names. The company filed a complaint with WIPO for AmericanExpress.me, which is owned by a New Jersey resident. The domain currently has a GoDaddy parking page. First ad? “American Express® Cards”. Other companies/brands to get their corresponding .me domain names through UDRP ... read more ...
Wed 10th March 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Typo? CanadaDrugs.com vs. CanadaRugs.com - Online pharmacy argues “Rugs” is merely a typo of “Drugs”. Take two of these andfire your lawyer in the morning. Here’s an interesting UDRP case from National Arbitration Forum. The company that runs CanadaDrugs.com, a popular online pharmacy, filed a complaint against the owner of CanadaRugs.com, which is a parked page featuring links for rugs. CanadaDrugs.com tried to argue that the owner of CanadaRugs.com was typosquatting: Complainant submits that ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Marchex Gets UDRP Win with Clara.com, Robot Blocking Justified - Company defends generic domain name and explains legitimate reasons for blocking robots.txt from parked domain names. Marchex subsidiary MDNH has successfully defended the domain name Clara.com from an attack by a magazine publisher in Spain. Complainant Rba Edipresse, S.L. owns a magazine called Clara, and argued that it should get the domain name because it has trademarks for the term “Clara” and that Marchex hadn’t used the domain name since it was registered. ... read more ...
Tue 9th March 2010
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
WIPO: Another Horrible Inconsistent Decision: “Constructive Notice Does Not = Bad Faith” - In yet another shoot from the hip WIPO decision this one involving the domain SkyWaterSystems.com, the sole panelist found that even though the Complaint and the Domain Holder were in the same type of business,  there is not necessarily any confusion. “””As far as the record here reveals, however, the water-related systems offered by the parties here are not strictly, as Complainant asserts, in direct competition with one another. As the Panel understands it, Complainant produces water from ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Scenes from ICANN Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya - ICANN meeting in Nairobi running well, report attendees. With all of the hype around security and possible disruptions, those in attendance at ICANN’s meeting in Nairobi say all is going well. Attorney John Berryhill writes “The summit and the ICANN meeting are both running smoothly here. The “security issue” is waaaay overblown by those who simply didn’t want the meeting held in Kenya. The conference center is huge and in a secure block with Kenyan ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
.Org Eyes Leadership Role in IDN Top Level Domain Names - .Org registry PIR wants to bring best practices to IDN top level domain names. One of the big questions facing registries of existing top level domain names is how they should pursue Internationalized Domain Name “equivalents” of their domain names when they become available. These so-called IDN.IDN domain names will be available once new gTLDs — such as .nyc and .music — come out. Last month we learned more about VeriSign’s plans for .com and .net; today ... read more ...
Mon 8th March 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Reevaluating New Top Level Domain Names - A look back at my position on new TLDs, 9 months later. Last May I wrote an editorial titled “Why I’m opposed to new top level domains”. I outlined six reasons that I didn’t like the current proposal for new top level domain names. Nine months later, I still have many of those same concerns. But I’m also looking forward to the introduction of new top level domain names. Look, everyone who’s pushing for new TLDs is in it for the money. And there’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Chair: May be “Ready to Move” on Uniform Rapid Suspension - ICANN session on trademark protection suggests URS is close to being finalized. Of all of the trademark protections being discussed for the launch of new top level domain names, it looks like Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) may be the closest to being approved. Uniform Rapid Suspension is a sort of “light UDRP” for domain names deemed to be clear cut cases of cybersquatting. During the first day of sessions at ICANN’s Nairobi meeting, ICANN Chairman of the Board ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
WWW Prefix Typo Popular Among Trademark Infringers - Study says WWW typo is most common prefix in trademark infringing domain names. A new study from Corporation Service Company (CSC) — which provides trademark protection services — shows that www is the most common prefix to brand names used to “trademark infringers” in domain names. (The very common typo where someone forgets the dot between www and the domain name.) Perhaps more interesting is that most companies that do own the www typo of their web site ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Amazon.com Fires Colorado Affiliates Thanks to Affiliate Tax - Amazon says “see you later” to Colorado’s affiliate merchants. Thank inept state representatives. Colorado is the latest state to exacerbate unemployment problems by effectively canning its affiliate marketers. Colorado has joined a list of states that either proposed or enacted rules that make web companies collect sale tax if they have affiliates operating in the state. In the case of Colorado, HB 10-1193 didn’t necessarily require Amazon.com to collect ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICA Requests Action on Czech Arbitration Court Policy Changes - Internet Commerce Association wants ICANN to act quickly on move by UDRP provider. Internet Commerce Association counsel Philip Corwin has sent a letter (pdf) to ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom and Chairman of the Board Peter Dengate-Thrush asking it to act on Czech Arbitration Court’s new UDRP policy. Czech Arbitration Court (CAC), one of the newest UDRP providers, proposed a new scheme in which it would charge only 500 EUR to file a domain name complaint and arbitrators ... read more ...
Sun 7th March 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Peculiar UDRPs: Recent.net, Than.net, They.net - UDRP filing goes after three highly generic .net domain names. Here’s a domain name dispute filing that must be complicated: someone has filed a UDRP for Recent.net, Than.net, and They.net. The dispute was filed with National Arbitration Forum, which does not disclose the complainant’s identity until a decision is rendered. On the face of it, these seem like very generic domain names. But when you dig into the whois history, you notice similarities with all ... read more ...