Trademark Owners' Rights to Corresponding Earlier Registered Domain Names
As I pointed out in last week's essay, having trademark rights that come into existence later than registrations of corresponding domain names only gets complainants to first base; they have standing...
View ArticleThe Future of Domain Name Dispute Policies: The Journey Begins
A just-launched ICANN "working group" (of which I am a member) will — eventually — help to determine the future of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), the 17-year-old domain name...
View ArticleU.S. House of Representatives Passes H.R. 699, the Email Privacy Act
The U.S. House of Representatives voted unanimously today to pass H.R. 699, the Email Privacy Act, closing a loophole that allowed law enforcement authorities to obtain old email and other digital...
View ArticleICANN vs. the Federal Reserve
The Internet is about to go independent. After years of support and supervision, the U.S. Government is about to irrevocably relinquish its control over the Internet by transferring its authority to an...
View ArticleWarranties and Representations on Purchasing Domain Names: What are they Worth?
The WIPO Final Report published in April 1999, from which sprung the UDRP the following October, is useful in shedding light on what the assembled constituencies had in mind in agreeing to particularly...
View ArticleCybersquatting & Banking: How Financial Services Industry Can Protect...
Businesses in the financial services sector are among the most frequent targets of cybersquatters. In this free webinar, I will be joining Craig Schwartz of fTLD Registry Services to provide important...
View ArticleBrazil Judge Orders 72-Hour Ban on WhatsApp
A Brazilian judge on Monday issued a 72-hour ban on WhatsApp chat service throughout Brazil. The measure which took effect at 2 p.m. was issued on April 26 following a failed 2013 access order from a...
View ArticleReflections on the G7 ICT Ministers Meeting in Japan
On April 30, 2016, ICT Ministers of the "G7 group" concluded their deliberations in the beautiful city of Takamatsu, Kagawa prefecture in Japan. After months of preparatory work and two full days of...
View ArticleIs the Internet a Tobacco Product?
Audacity by federal policy makers can be admirable, at least in some cases, but it can a bit more problematic in others. A case in point is the Food and Drug Administration's "deeming” of the internet...
View ArticlePirateBay Domains to Be Handed over to the State, Swedish Court Rules
The Swedish court ruling on Thursday will result in confiscation of 'ThePirateBay.se' and 'PirateBay.se' from one the worlds most popular torrent websites. The Swedish Prosecution Authority had filed a...
View ArticleProving Common Law Rights Predating Domain Name Registration
The trademark rights required for standing under paragraph 4(a)(i) of the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) refer to both registered and unregistered rights. Complainants with registered...
View ArticleUsing the URS as a Preliminary Injunction for Domain Name Disputes
As I've written before, the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) — the domain name dispute policy applicable to the new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) — is just not catching on. Whether because of...
View ArticleUnlawful Targeting of Trademarks and Consumers in Registering Domain Names
Unlike trademark applications which go through a lengthy examination process before advancing to registration, anyone (anywhere in the world) can register a domain name identical or confusingly similar...
View ArticleDeclaring and Declining to Find Reverse Domain Name Hijacking
What to one panelist is clearly bad faith conduct in filing a UDRP complaint, to another is excusable for lack of proof. The disagreement over reverse domain name hijacking centers on the kind of...
View ArticleDisputes Falling Outside the Scope of the UDRP
The UDRP is a forum of limited jurisdiction designed for trademark owners to combat a certain kind of tortious (sometimes tipping to criminal) conduct by which registrants register domain names with...
View ArticleUS Seeks to Intervene in EU vs Facebook Case
At a hearing in the Irish High Court, the US government has sought to intervene in the case between a privacy activist and Facebook. Consequently, the court has been adjourned for two weeks to give it...
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Which Direction Will the Internet Go? Take Our Survey and Help Us Explore the...
In the past seven years, the number of people online has essentially doubled, from 1.7 billion in 2009 to about 3.4 billion today. New and innovative services have also emerged and people and companies...
View ArticleThe DotBible Litmus Test for Domain Name Dispute Panelists
A dispute policy for the new <.bible> top-level domain name requires panelists who agree to hear cases to affirm that they "enthusiastically support the mission of American Bible Society" and...
View Article'Spam King' Sanford Wallace Sentenced to 2.5 Years In Prison
The 47 year old Las Vegas man known as the "Spam King" has been sentenced to 2.5 years in federal prison for sending over half-million spam messages to Facebook users resulting in over 27 million spam...
View ArticleStatutory Remedies for UDRP Grievants
The U.S. is unusual in that grievants of a UDRP award have a statutory remedy from an adverse UDRP award, namely an action for declaratory judgement under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act...
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