Using an UDRP to steal a Domain Name

Rick Schwartz is naming names, and doing everyone in the domain industry a service--interesting reading at link below, and particularly note Rick's "explanation of reasons"--including "Plan B"--

Reverse Domain Name Hijackings 2000-2013. All 143 Cases Sorted by Year. - The Rick Schwartz Domain Name and Traffic Blog RicksBlog.com | Home of the "Domain King":  " . . . . The ‘Reasons’ column is an attempt to identify and categorize the various circumstances cited by panels in support of a finding of RDNH. Explanation of Reasons: (there are a total of 11 categories at the link above--just 2 follow)
Bad Faith – No Evidence – the complaint provides no evidence of the respondent’s bad faith . . . .
Plan “B” – the complainant is using the UDRP as an alternative acquisition strategy after commercial negotiations failed . . . ." (read more at link above)

An "Alternative Acquisition Strategy"--Rick calls it as he sees it! And what does ICANN do to prohibit or penalize abuse of UDRP policy? Seemingly nothing--and they have been on notice since at least year 2000! Why not require UDRP complainants post $1,000,000, or have their claim dismissed, once a respondent asserts a RDNH defense? If complainant then posts the $1,000,000, and RDNH is found by the panel, the $1,000,000 would be split 80/20--80% to respondent and 20% to ICANN!

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ICANN chaos coming with new domain names

'Things are going to break'--

New domain names bound for collisions: 'Things are going to break' -- GCN: "The Internet is on the brink of the largest expansion of generic Top Level Domains in its history, with as many as 1,000 new strings expected to be added over the next year, more than quadrupling the current gTLD space. Some observers, including the operator of two of the Internet’s root zone servers, worry that this expansion of public domains could result in naming collisions with private internal network domains, disrupting those networks. “We know things are going to break,” said Danny McPherson, chief security officer of Verisign, the company that runs the A and J root servers. Networks in the .gov domain could be affected, as well as those supporting emergency services such as public safety answering points for the nation’s 911 system. “It makes us uneasy,” McPherson said. . . ."

Thank you ICANN for bringing chaos to a previously stable domain system.

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Verisign's IDN Implementation Plans

Update on Verisign's IDN Implementation Plans: "The composition of the Internet's population has seen a dramatic shift over the last two decades. In 1996, the majority of end users were based in the U.S.; according to a 2012 Comscore report, the non-English speaking Internet population has grown to 87 percent, with more than 40 percent based in the Asia-Pacific region. In order to embrace this population shift, we believe the Internet must become multilingual so it can be accessible and relevant to the majority of end users today. . . ." (read more at link above)

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Amazon hand registered JetCityComic.com

And who says you can't find any good domain names to hand reg?--and by the way, Amazon didn't bother with registering any other domain name extension other than dot com--

Amazon picked up domain names for new Jet City Comics imprint in March - Domain Name Wire: "Amazon.com hand registered the JetCityComic.com domain name in March. At the same time it acquired the plural version JetCityComics.com from a Grandview, Washington man. Both domains merely forward to a Jet City Comics specific page on apub.com."

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Why Would Any (legitimate) Business Avoid An Internet Presence?

Why Would a Business Avoid any Internet Presence? - Business Insider: " . . . . There should be no doubt that an Internet presence is as basic to success in business today, as brick and mortar was a hundred years ago. Yet I am amazed to see US Census Bureau data from 2012 that at least 50%, maybe up to 75%, of small businesses still have no presence at all. These are soon to be the walking dead, and the competitors you can beat today. In fact, you need to have at least a prototype web site published several weeks before you expect anyone to find yours, since it takes that amount of time for the web search engine “spiders” to find you and index your content. I still remember my disappointment the first time I published my website, did an immediate Google search on the name, and it said my company didn’t exist. . . ."

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Generic TLDs, Name Collisions, Information Leakage

Generic TLDs Threaten Name Collisions, Information Leakage -- Dark: " . . . The security issues underscore that the ICANN process for creating gTLDs has mainly focused on the companies applying for a specific top-level domain and not on the Internet users who could be impacted by that application, according to two members of PayPal's Information Risk Management group. ICANN's "analysis and recommendations fall short of what is needed by primarily considering the potential impact of the widespread use of such names to the applicants for these names," wrote Paypal's Brad Hill and Bill Smith in a March letter to ICANN. "The considerable security and operational risks to users of these names is not given adequate consideration. Delegating these names will put millions of users and high value systems at considerable risk." Another problem hindering any solution: Because the organizations managing the root name servers assiduously maintain their independence from one another, there is little sharing of data about what Internet issues are impacting those servers. When the global TLD systems is turned on, the response to any issue will likely be slowed because of the lack of collaboration and information sharing, he says. . . ." (read more at link above)

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Second Thoughts on Generic Top-Level Domains

gTLDs? ICANN's folly--seeing more and more comments like the following--

Intellectual Property Bulletin - Spring 2013: Revisiting Generic Top-Level Domains | Fenwick & West LLP - JDSupra: " . . . some companies are choosing to abandon their gTLD applications rather than pioneer this new area. While some might cite the significant economic cost and management effort in migrating business plans beyond the .com world, there may be something more fundamental going on. In short, the value of domains to businesses and other organizations may have peaked; and, in particular, the value of gTLDs may not be nearly what was anticipated in the years leading up to the gTLD introduction. Few would doubt that no matter how many gTLDs go live, .com will remain king. Prior challengers such as .pro and .mobi have failed to displace the venerable .com, and there is no reason to think any new domain will fare better. . . ." (read more at link above)

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Best Business Domain Name Tip

2 Ways to Get the Best Business Domain Name | ITX Design: " . . . . One Last Key to Your Company’s Domain Name - The last key to your business domain name is to make sure it is a .com domain name and that you have good hosting for it. This is the highest ranking type of domain name and it is the easiest for your customers to remember as well. This is the default type of domain name that most people will try to type in when they are trying to find a company . . . ."

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Domain Name Strategy

Domain name strategy varies dependent upon the resources, goals, and vision of each domainer--here are some considerations--

Domain Name Offer: Helpful Service, or Marketing Scam? | Burns & Levinson LLP - JDSupra: "Whether to acquire domains beyond the standard generics (.com, .info, .net, etc.) really involves a number of considerations, including:

• the geographic scope of your marketing efforts and sales channels;
• the geographic scope of your trademark registrations;
• the nature of your products and the channels of trade and advertising you use; and
• your budget." (read more at link above)

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Verisign Find Your Custom Domain Tool

Verisign Launches Find Your Custom Domain Tool/App: Domaininspiration.com | TheDomains.com: "The results seem to be geared to domain names my last name, my company my sports interests and professions couple with common words. All of the domain names are available for registration but many of the suggested domain names are for .net, .tv and even .name domain names for which Verisign is the Registry for in addition of course to .com." (read more at link above)

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Branding and generic domain name risky

Fling.com discovers the challenges of branding with a generic domain name - Domain Name Wire: " . . . the Panel is of the view that they are entitled to do so as long as they do not infringe the particular rights covered by the above trademark registration(s) in accordance with the requirements of the Policy. In this regard, it is relevant to note that Respondent has added to the common descriptor “fling” the words “best” and “sites”. While these words are themselves descriptive, once combined in this way, a term with a quite different meaning emerges – namely a reference to “the best fling sites”. Such reference is both apt and appropriate for use in relation to an entity or website that reviews sites or services aimed at those interested in having a “fling” or in the wider community involved in such affairs. . . ." (read more at link above)

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Trust and a New TLD Success

The Role of Trust in Determining a New TLD's Business Success: "Like it or not, every Top-Level Domain (TLD) is a brand in the eyes of the consumer. So, just how important is trust in the success of the new top-level-domains? I'm no branding expert, but I grasp that no brand, no matter how memorable, will fail to achieve its goals if it does not gain the public's trust. TLD's are no different. Several TLD's in the past have learned this the hard way by running pricing promotions that flooded their namespace with undesirable content or behavior. Once a TLD is tagged as having a distrust issue, it is difficult to erase it from the public's mind. ..." (read more at link above)

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Global Name Branding Challenges in the New Digital Age

Global Name Branding Challenges & the New Digital Age: " . . . The world has already entered a new age digital marketing and branding and ICANN is the best global mother ship to the Internet protocols, but has yet to prove its global efficiency on naming complexities and trademark understanding. The original “first-come basis” chaos, UDRP explosion and defensive name registrations industry boom, all reflect on that reality. . . ."

USSR's old domain name attracts cybercriminals: "The Soviet Union disappeared from the map more than two decades ago. But online an 'e-vil empire' is thriving. Security experts say the .su Internet suffix assigned to the USSR in 1990 has turned into a haven for hackers who've flocked to the defunct superpower's domain space to send spam and steal money. . . ." (read more at link above)

Domain Name Offer: Helpful Service, or Marketing Scam? | Burns & Levinson LLP - JDSupra: "The ruse works likes this: Trademark owner applies for a trademark in the U.S. or with another office in another country.  Information about the mark and the owner is publicly available to scammers through simple searches.  The scammer sends an email to the trademark owner purporting to warn the mark owner of the ill behavior of a potential domain name squatter. . . .  " (read more at link above)

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Domain Name Sales Contracts

Sales Sunday: Domain Name Sales Contracts: " . . . I learned a valuable lesson. The two best ways to protect yourself when buying and selling a domain name are: Use a domain escrow service; Have a domain sales contract in place. The domain sales contract can help you legally get your domain name back should the buyer do something funky, however with an Escrow service this will rarely come up. . . ." (read more at link above)

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Moscow court upholds decision to protect Mexx trademark domain

Mexx was established in the Netherlands in 1986 by Indian-born businessman Rattan Chadha. The company is a leading fashion industry producer, manufacturing garments, accessories, perfumes and a range of household items. In 2012, the company operated 95 mono-brand stores in Russia and planned to open another 15. (source infra)

Mexx owned the dot com http://www.mexx.com but the dot ru was bought by another party--hence Mexx filed an action in the Russian courts--

Moscow court upholds decision to protect Mexx trademark domain | Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI).: "Russia's Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court's decision to prohibit the use by a Russian businessman of the mexx.ru domain name, finding that such was an infringement of Mexx Europe BV's trademark rights, a court spokesperson told RAPSI Wedensday. Businessman Vladislav Mukhin appealed the Moscow Commercial Court's earlier decision, which had also ordered that he pay the company 150,000 rubles ($4,870) in damages. An attorney for Mexx said during the previous hearing that the company has legitimate ownership of the disputed brand. . . ."

Question: if a dot com is already registered by any entity claiming a trademark in the name--of what use is owning the same name with a different domain extension?

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Video of GoDaddy's Blake Irving

Video - GoDaddy's Blake Irving: Lessons of a Rookie CEO - WSJ.com: GoDaddy’s Blake Irving discusses life as the top boss, and prospects for a public offering

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Feds Seized 1700 Domains in 3 Years

Feds Seized 1,700 Online Domains in 3 Years | Threat Level | Wired.com: "Federal authorities said today that, since June 2010, they have seized more than 1,700 domains that allegedly breached intellectual property rights. Seized under a program known as “Operation in Our Sites,” the domains hosted material the authorities said illegally streamed sporting events; hawked counterfeit drugs, clothes, and accessories like handbags; and unlawfully allowed the downloading of copyrighted movies and music. The figures were buried in the White House’s 2013 “Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement,” (.pdf) and they represent about 50 seizures a month following the operation’s adoption three years ago.  . . . " (read more at first link above)

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