Ransomware Crime Bill Goes into Effect in the State of California
As of January 1, the delivery of ransomware is illegal in California as per Senate Bill 1137 going into effect. Cyrus Farivar reporting in Ars Technica: "The new law was signed in September 2016, but...
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It's Official: 2016 Was a Record Year for Domain Name Disputes
As I predicted more than three months ago, 2016 turned out to be a record year for domain name disputes, including under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). That's according to...
View ArticleParsing Domain Names Composed of Random Letters for Proof of Cybersquatting
The Respondent's cry of pain in AXA SA v. Whois Privacy Protection Service, Inc. / Ugurcan Bulut, axathemes, D2016-1483 (WIPO December 12, 2016) "[w]hat do you want from me people? I already removed...
View ArticleInternet Governance Outlook 2017: Nationalistic Hierarchies vs....
Two events, which made headlines in the digital world in 2016, will probably frame the Internet Governance Agenda for 2017. October 1, 2016, the US government confirmed the IANA Stewardship transition...
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CircleID's Top 10 Posts of 2016
The new year is upon us and it's time for our annual look at CircleID's most popular posts of the past year and highlighting those that received the most attention. Congratulations to all the 2016...
View ArticleHow a Plaintiff Was Undeceived and Lost at Spam Litigation - What Nobody Told...
Back in 2003, there was a race to pass spam legislation. California was on the verge of passing legislation that marketers disdained. Thus marketers pressed for federal spam legislation which would...
View ArticleFairness & Due Process Require Changes to ICANN's "Updated Supplementary...
The Updated Supplementary Procedures for Independent Review Process ("IRP Supplementary Procedures") are now up for review and Public Comment. Frankly, there is a lot of work to be done. If you have...
View ArticleHow a 'Defensive Registration' Can Defeat a UDRP Complaint
A company that registers a domain name containing someone else's trademark may be engaging in the acceptable practice of "defensive registration" if (among other things) the domain name is a...
View ArticleCyber-Terrorism Rising, Existing Cyber-Security Strategies Failing, What Are...
A Global Paradigm Change is Threatening us All While conventional cyber attacks are evolving at breakneck speed, the world is witnessing the rise of a new generation of political, ideological,...
View ArticleHelp Us Answer: What Will the Internet Look Like in 10 Years?
What will the Internet look like in the next seven to 10 years? How will things like marketplace consolidation, changes to regulation, increases in cybercrime or the widespread deployment of the...
View ArticleDiffering UDRP Decisions Show That Facts Matter
"Past performance does not necessarily predict future results." That's what the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requires mutual funds tell investors. But it's also true about domain name...
View ArticleFAKE45: Trump Administration Illegitimacy Under International Law
The FAKE45 sign in the photo lower right corner appearing on the front page of today's Washington Post — ironically in front of the Department of Justice headquarters — captures a result of yesterday's...
View ArticleCADNA Returns to Lobby for Stronger Cybersquatting Laws
Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse, the lobby group that campaigned for stronger cybersquatting laws and against new gTLDs, is back. Kevin Murphy reporting in Domain Incite: "CADNA on Thursday used...
View ArticleLuddites of the 21st Century Unite, Revisited
Some years ago I wrote a post on the fact that I saw the world automate fast and did not see a lot of people worrying about the consequences for their lives. Nobody was smashing automated production...
View ArticleCounterfeit Marks and Counterfeit Goods: Pretense in Cyberspace
The term "counterfeit" is defined under U.S. trademark law as "a spurious mark which is identical with, or substantially indistinguishable from, a registered mark." 15 U.S.C. § 1127 (Lanham Act, Sec....
View ArticleWhen to Consider 'Both Sides of the Dot' in a Domain Name Dispute
Yet another UDRP decision has found the top-level domain name relevant for purposes of confusing similarity. In the case, filed by Michelin, the panel found the domain name <tyre.plus>...
View ArticleWhen a 'Response Fee' is Required in a URS Case
Although filing fees in domain name disputes are usually paid for by the trademark owner that files a complaint, the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) contains a little-noticed provision that, in...
View ArticleAre Domain Names Contract of Services or Property Rights?
There are several perspectives from which one can give various answers to the question of 'what are domain names?'. Originally the domain name system started and continues to be a human-friendly way of...
View ArticleIs More Protection of Intellectual Property Rights Necessary on the Internet?
I firmly believe that we need to protect any form of intellectual properties (IP) built by one through hard and honest work. At the same time, I also believe that several of the current methods of...
View ArticleIdentical or Confusingly Similar to Trademarks but Noninfringing Domain Names
Domain names may be confusingly similar to trademarks or even identical or but not infringing. This is particularly true of trademarks acquired later than the allegedly infringing domain names ArcBest...
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