Is Booking.com a Generic Term?
A fundamental rule of trademarks is that they have to be distinctive, and that nobody can register a trademark on a generic term like "wine" or "plastic." In a case decided today by the U.S. Supreme...
View ArticleAssessing Intent to Cybersquat
It, perhaps, does not have to be said that cybersquatting is an intentional tort. No one would expect the respondent to admit unlawful intention, but complainant's proof must nevertheless support that...
View ArticleHolding Trump Accountable Under Public International Law
Trump and his enablers are well known to disrespect if not disdain legal systems, including public international law. He has effectively abrogated every treaty instrument relating to international...
View ArticleHow the War Against Child Abuse Material Was Lost
The battle to purge child abuse images from the Internet has been lost. That doesn't mean that we can't or shouldn't continue to work towards the elimination of image-based abuse. But it is widely...
View ArticleUDRP and the Law: Should Cybersquatting be the Default View?
I have returned to the subject of the title on a number of occasions and it is worth revisiting. Like judicial proceedings, the substance of disputes under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution...
View ArticleNew Digital Services Act Should Not Disrupt Internet's Technical Operations,...
RIPE NCC and CENTR have released a statement today in response to the upcoming European Commission's Digital Services Act, urging policymakers to distinguish between the Internet's core infrastructure...
View ArticleHow Ignorance Can Lead Mark Owners Astray in UDRP Proceedings
The great problem with ignorance is that it leads to disaster when one acts in the belief that he (and not infrequently a corporate "it") is invulnerable to error. The Uniform Domain Name Dispute...
View ArticleThinking Outside the Box – Protecting Non-Music Brands' IP on Digital Music...
When brands think about registering a trademark, it's natural to consider the classes that match the direct nature of their products and services. A car manufacturer would register under vehicles1; an...
View ArticleInternational Law and Cyberspace: It's the "How", Stupid
The Internet has enhanced freedom of communication, ignored national borders, and removed time and space barriers. But the Internet sphere was never a law-free zone. Already ICANN's "Articles of...
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The Government of Niue Launches Proceedings With ICANN to Reclaim Its .nu...
The Government of Niue, a small island 2,400 kilometers northeast of New Zealand, launched proceedings today demanding a "redelegation" of its country code top-level domain, .nu, from the Internet...
View ArticleNTIA Objects to Planned o.com Auction
Agency asserts interest in trademark protections for Internet's largest domain name registry According to media sources, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) wrote to...
View ArticleReshaping Cyberspace: Beyond the Emerging Online Mercenaries and the...
Ahmed Mansoor is an internationally recognized human rights defender based in the Middle East and recipient of the Martin Ennals Award (sometimes referred to as a "Nobel Prize for human rights"), On...
View Article.com Is A Clear and Present Danger to Online Safety
Shareholders benefit from registry operator providing sanctuary to online criminals and child sex abusers; Congress instructed NTIA to fix the problem — here's how. "The Internet is the real world...
View ArticleWhy the Internet is Not Like a Railroad
When one person transmits the speech of another, we have had three legal models, which I would characterize as Magazine, Bookstore, and Railroad. The Magazine model makes the transmitting party a...
View ArticleThe Netizen's Guide To Reboot The Root (Part I)
Rampant dysfunction currently plagues the Internet's root zone where a predatory monopolist has captured ICANN and is bullying stakeholders. This harms the public interest and must be addressed —...
View ArticleFreedom of Expression Part 4: Censorship, COVID-19, the Media and Assault on...
As I write this, it is World Holocaust Day, 27th January 2021, a memorial of the atrocious events that shocked and outraged the conscience of humanity and gave birth to the Universal Declaration of...
View ArticleEmergence, Rise and Fall of Surveillance Capitalism, Part 1: Emergence
"We are still in the early days of an information civilization. The third decade is our opportunity to match the ingenuity and determination of our 20th-century forebears by building the foundations...
View ArticleFreedom of Expression Part 5: COVID Vaccines not Mandatory
In Part 4 of the Freedom of Expression series, I had highlighted my concerns about the lack of transparency in ingredients of all the COVID-19 vaccines, which has been addressed by Council of Europe's...
View ArticleThe Netizen's Guide to Reboot the Root (Part II)
Rampant dysfunction currently plagues the Internet's root zone where a predatory monopolist has captured ICANN and is bullying stakeholders. This harms the public interest and must be addressed —...
View ArticleEU Rulings on Geo-Blocking in Digital Storefronts Will Increase Piracy Rates...
For the longest time, it was an insurmountable challenge for those in the developing world to be able to afford to legally consume multimedia products. Prices originally set in Dollars, Euros or Yen...
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