Best Country/State to have a Domaining Company at for .com domains?

[M.U.]

Hi,

I am curious to know if there is one country/state that is better to have a Domaining Company with .com-portfolio or is it always USA-law no matter where the company is resident? and if it is only USA law then does it matter which state?

I'm not talking about illegal use of domain names. What I was thinking is if there was a Country/state more "positive" for domainers so it was easier to protect ones .com-portfolio, so f.ex. some brazilian dude can't threathen ones .com-domains.

Again I'm not talking about illegal activity or trademark domains or something like that, just normal generic/brandable domain names.

I read a while ago that Canada had a ruling where it was accepted that domain names was intangible property and there by protected by the Personal Property Security Act.
http://www.lawyersweekly.ca/index.php?section=article&articleid=1495

So would this mean that if my company had a local adress in Ontario, Canada f.ex. than it would also be able to use above ruling and protected by the Personal Property Security Act?

Is Canada the "best" place to have a Domaining Company and thereby where ones domain portfolio is "located" or is there other countries or American States that protect domain names more?

Thank you in forward for your replies.

Best regards,

 

[cbk]

It is considered property in the US as well.

Canada is too cold.

California, U.S.A hands down!

 

[M.U.]

Thanks for your input cbk.

Do you recommend California because of their law or because it is hot there? lol

 

[grcorp]

Thanks for your input cbk.

Do you recommend California because of their law or because it is hot there? lol

Many Californians incorporate in Nevada, as Nevada has more favourable tax and privacy laws.

Do not take this as legal advice; US law does not apply to a non-US company. Just as the laws of, say, Zambia, for argument's sake, cannot apply to me as a Canadian. As I am not Zambian.

So why should US law apply to a Canadian?

I'm currently pondering the best offshore locale to form a holdings corporation in, primarily for stocks, but possibly for domain investments as well.

I would never invest in a blatant TM, so none of this is to prevent me from being subjected to US law, but it is a fringe benefit in cases of frivolous cases such as Rick Schwartz's "saveme.com" case, which is probably what you had meant by a "Brazilian company" in your original posting.

 

[M.U.]

Thanks Maxwell. Yes it was situations like Rick's I had in mind. He has the economy to fight back hard, but for us normal domainers, that don't have that kind of contacts and economy, it would be great to at least be in a country/state where they didn't from start looked negative on domainers.

Regarding the laws not applying to non-usa, what I had in mind, if I ever should do it, was to have a local registered company in f.ex. USA. This way the laws would also apply to my company.

But as I understood the Canadian Court rule posted in my original post, they had the "power" to make a ruling over a .com domain name. How is that possible, is .com not under WIPO and American law?

Thanks.

 

[grcorp]

Thanks Maxwell. Yes it was situations like Rick's I had in mind. He has the economy to fight back hard, but for us normal domainers, that don't have that kind of contacts and economy, it would be great to at least be in a country/state where they didn't from start looked negative on domainers.

Regarding the laws not applying to non-usa, what I had in mind, if I ever should do it, was to have a local registered company in f.ex. USA. This way the laws would also apply to my company.

But as I understood the Canadian Court rule posted in my original post, they had the "power" to make a ruling over a .com domain name. How is that possible, is .com not under WIPO and American law?

Thanks.

Well, you can't have it both ways. If you want Bermuda's laws to apply to you, incorporate in Bermuda. If you want Nevada's laws to apply to you, incorporate in Nevada.

As I understand it, and do not take this as legal advice, the Canadian court could rule in regards to damages inflicted upon a given entity in light of the misuse of a .com domain, but that is limited to just the damages.

The domain itself is subject to the Uniform Domain Resolution Policy (UDRP), not governed by the laws of the US.

Just speaking generally, it really annoys me when people think that the US is the "central order" of the world, or that their law applies worldwide. It's a horribly flawed misconception.

In regards to the UDRP, part of your registrant agreement when you obtained ownership of the domain name (which you did read, didn't you?) bound you to understand that all disputes are handled according to said policy, in whatever version is current.

 

[BacklinkMafia]

Maxwell, I like your professional explanation. Thank you!