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Cybersquatting escalates in Asia
By Lynn Tan, ZDNet Asia
Published on ZDNet News: Oct 8, 2007 6:15:00 AM
nstances of cybersquatting are growing in Asia, fueled largely by the availability of inexpensive Internet domain names, according to a domain-name registrar.
For example, China's ".cn" domains are now so inexpensive that it is encouraging the growth of cybersquatting, said Janna Lam, managing director of Singapore-based IP Mirror. In fact, IP Mirror currently acquires these site names from Chinese domain name registrar CNNIC.net.cn at such a low rate that the Singapore registrar is able to offer ".cn" site names for as low as $3 a year.
"Cybersquatting has always been a (worldwide) trend and is now catching up in Asia," Lam said, adding that the main cause for this growth is the relatively low prices of the domain names.
The U.S. Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act defines cybersquatting as the "unauthorized registration or use of trademarks as Internet domain names, or other identifiers of online locations."
Microsoft takes squatters to court
Last year, Microsoft filed three lawsuits in U.S. federal court against cybersquatters who, the software vendor said, illegally profited from sales of the domain names of thousands of Web sites, such as WindowsLiveTutorial.com and HaloChamp.com, associated with the company's products or brand.
Nancy Anderson, Microsoft's vice president and deputy counsel, said that the software giant has "brought 15 different legal actions targeting more than 1,500 infringing domain names," and that most of these cases were filed over the past year.
"So far, we've had judgments that have involved more than $5 million in judgment amount, and we've also settled cases to the tune of over $1 million," Anderson said in a phone interview.
complete story
ADDED NOTE:
This story just came out which adds even more fuel to the growing news coverage of domains, domain names, and cybersquatters.
To me this became a very hot topic by all the morons who chose to try to profit from registering Virginia Tech shooting domains, from what I understand to the tune of almost 19,000 per day based solely on this matter. The day of and the day after this tragedy had more domains registered in the entire history of the internet, beating out Hurricane Katrina.
There was so many registered that there was a national center set up by an internet watchdog center pleading for volunteers to assist in veryifying the validity of the domain name...for the purpose of a tribute to the tragedy or a scam site, a bogus redirect, and (as many of us witnessed) porn sites. If I recall correctly, a total of SIX were validated as being solely as a memorial site (at the time).
Obviously this has become quite a hot topic and not on just this forum. I look on this forum and constantly see typo and TM domains constantly being sold. One of the hottest topics right now is one member supposedly reporting another member for owning and trying to sell a TM domain.
Personally, I would be more concerned about a couple of things:
First, look at the infomation in bold blue type regarding Microsoft. Pay particular attention to the illegally profited from sales of the domain names statement. Sure, MS might slap the hell out of someone for regging and parking, but this is the real meat and potatoes...selling a TM domain name.
I would not be stupid enough to purchase a TM domain name. Might reg a few typos and park em. But would absolutely not buy them.
So for those that would sell a TM name, consider this. If I were such the noob and bought a domain name for a few grand or several grand that had great traffic and stats and lost it or had to surrender it, you can damn well better believe that I would haul your ass in to a court of law. Along with the registrar.
Why?
First, the registrar allowed it to be regged, which is against their own policies but they are all about the money. Secondly, when you registered with that registrar you agreed to their Terms of Service (TOS), which no one reads, but will state that you will not knowing violate copyrighted or Trade Marked material. Thirdly, when you sold and transferred the domain name, you AGAIN acknowledge that the domain name does not violate any of the TOS.
As has been pointed out, most of the time the registrar is found not guilty. But all it will take is one decision by a court and upheld that the registrars facilitate in this action and that will change the whole domain landscape.
So it all falls on you to represent your own sorry ass in court.
But, I think the times are changing.
We are in a time where domaining and domains and domainers are coming into the news more and more...and not in a positive light. We had a hell of a go with the Virginia Tech matters and many members were claiming "the media is profiting so why can't we" stupid dumbass mentality.
Why call it a stupid dumb ass mentality? Because the Media is going to win! They have the audience, the outlet, the modality to report on the stories and on domaining but you do not.
That leads me to me second and perhaps biggest reason I see potentially even stricter and tighter rules on the horizon. Here in the US we are going into an election year. With all the negative press, I would imagine that congress may get lobbied pretty hard over these issues.
Whether or not Microsoft and Bill Gates or any other institution (like eBay, Wal-Mart, etc) are the darlings of Congress or not is not the issue. Lobbying Congress in a time of election is good karma for the election. If these companies can demonstrate an erosion of revenue and jobs affecting the tax base of this country...game f'ing over!
Can you imagine during the prelim debates or even the finalists' debates when a person writes in or asks a candidate what they plan to do about cybersqautters? Imagine the dumbfounded look on their faces. They would have no idea what the hell a cybersquatter is.
But you can better believe they will after that awkward moment.
I see a mandate for a greater accountability all the way from the top to the bottom. ICANN is so damn inept. Anyone in the domain business knows this. Look at the RegistryFly debacle and ICANN's move to Switzerland to escape liability.
So don't be surprised if the registrars start pulling the plugs on current domains and prevent the registration of potentially infringing domains. I assure you that if they, the registries, are held accountable then they will start policing themselves.
Already many parking companies are booting off domain names that violate TM, SM, and copyrights.
So it appears that someone or something may be breathing down the parking companies necks in this regard so it would be no surprise at all to see the same pressure placed on the registrars. Not to mention that Google, Yahoo, and others will not supply feeds to such a violations.
By Lynn Tan, ZDNet Asia
Published on ZDNet News: Oct 8, 2007 6:15:00 AM
nstances of cybersquatting are growing in Asia, fueled largely by the availability of inexpensive Internet domain names, according to a domain-name registrar.
For example, China's ".cn" domains are now so inexpensive that it is encouraging the growth of cybersquatting, said Janna Lam, managing director of Singapore-based IP Mirror. In fact, IP Mirror currently acquires these site names from Chinese domain name registrar CNNIC.net.cn at such a low rate that the Singapore registrar is able to offer ".cn" site names for as low as $3 a year.
"Cybersquatting has always been a (worldwide) trend and is now catching up in Asia," Lam said, adding that the main cause for this growth is the relatively low prices of the domain names.
The U.S. Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act defines cybersquatting as the "unauthorized registration or use of trademarks as Internet domain names, or other identifiers of online locations."
Microsoft takes squatters to court
Last year, Microsoft filed three lawsuits in U.S. federal court against cybersquatters who, the software vendor said, illegally profited from sales of the domain names of thousands of Web sites, such as WindowsLiveTutorial.com and HaloChamp.com, associated with the company's products or brand.
Nancy Anderson, Microsoft's vice president and deputy counsel, said that the software giant has "brought 15 different legal actions targeting more than 1,500 infringing domain names," and that most of these cases were filed over the past year.
"So far, we've had judgments that have involved more than $5 million in judgment amount, and we've also settled cases to the tune of over $1 million," Anderson said in a phone interview.
complete story
ADDED NOTE:
This story just came out which adds even more fuel to the growing news coverage of domains, domain names, and cybersquatters.
To me this became a very hot topic by all the morons who chose to try to profit from registering Virginia Tech shooting domains, from what I understand to the tune of almost 19,000 per day based solely on this matter. The day of and the day after this tragedy had more domains registered in the entire history of the internet, beating out Hurricane Katrina.
There was so many registered that there was a national center set up by an internet watchdog center pleading for volunteers to assist in veryifying the validity of the domain name...for the purpose of a tribute to the tragedy or a scam site, a bogus redirect, and (as many of us witnessed) porn sites. If I recall correctly, a total of SIX were validated as being solely as a memorial site (at the time).
Obviously this has become quite a hot topic and not on just this forum. I look on this forum and constantly see typo and TM domains constantly being sold. One of the hottest topics right now is one member supposedly reporting another member for owning and trying to sell a TM domain.
Personally, I would be more concerned about a couple of things:
First, look at the infomation in bold blue type regarding Microsoft. Pay particular attention to the illegally profited from sales of the domain names statement. Sure, MS might slap the hell out of someone for regging and parking, but this is the real meat and potatoes...selling a TM domain name.
I would not be stupid enough to purchase a TM domain name. Might reg a few typos and park em. But would absolutely not buy them.
So for those that would sell a TM name, consider this. If I were such the noob and bought a domain name for a few grand or several grand that had great traffic and stats and lost it or had to surrender it, you can damn well better believe that I would haul your ass in to a court of law. Along with the registrar.
Why?
First, the registrar allowed it to be regged, which is against their own policies but they are all about the money. Secondly, when you registered with that registrar you agreed to their Terms of Service (TOS), which no one reads, but will state that you will not knowing violate copyrighted or Trade Marked material. Thirdly, when you sold and transferred the domain name, you AGAIN acknowledge that the domain name does not violate any of the TOS.
As has been pointed out, most of the time the registrar is found not guilty. But all it will take is one decision by a court and upheld that the registrars facilitate in this action and that will change the whole domain landscape.
So it all falls on you to represent your own sorry ass in court.
But, I think the times are changing.
We are in a time where domaining and domains and domainers are coming into the news more and more...and not in a positive light. We had a hell of a go with the Virginia Tech matters and many members were claiming "the media is profiting so why can't we" stupid dumbass mentality.
Why call it a stupid dumb ass mentality? Because the Media is going to win! They have the audience, the outlet, the modality to report on the stories and on domaining but you do not.
That leads me to me second and perhaps biggest reason I see potentially even stricter and tighter rules on the horizon. Here in the US we are going into an election year. With all the negative press, I would imagine that congress may get lobbied pretty hard over these issues.
Whether or not Microsoft and Bill Gates or any other institution (like eBay, Wal-Mart, etc) are the darlings of Congress or not is not the issue. Lobbying Congress in a time of election is good karma for the election. If these companies can demonstrate an erosion of revenue and jobs affecting the tax base of this country...game f'ing over!
Can you imagine during the prelim debates or even the finalists' debates when a person writes in or asks a candidate what they plan to do about cybersqautters? Imagine the dumbfounded look on their faces. They would have no idea what the hell a cybersquatter is.
But you can better believe they will after that awkward moment.
I see a mandate for a greater accountability all the way from the top to the bottom. ICANN is so damn inept. Anyone in the domain business knows this. Look at the RegistryFly debacle and ICANN's move to Switzerland to escape liability.
So don't be surprised if the registrars start pulling the plugs on current domains and prevent the registration of potentially infringing domains. I assure you that if they, the registries, are held accountable then they will start policing themselves.
Already many parking companies are booting off domain names that violate TM, SM, and copyrights.
So it appears that someone or something may be breathing down the parking companies necks in this regard so it would be no surprise at all to see the same pressure placed on the registrars. Not to mention that Google, Yahoo, and others will not supply feeds to such a violations.
