New Bill Threatens Domain Registrants and Poses Risks to Internet Commerce

[domaingenius]

1. There is, believe it or not, a World outside of the USA. Now what I wonder is how this Bill will effect those in Europe and elsewhere than the USA who have European but not US Trademarks ?. Is the Bill going to say that US trademarks trump European trademarks ??. If so there will be some interesting court cases im sure. Again this is why I do not like the fact that the USA think that they should own .com and everything else in this World. I guess this Bill will try and walk over everyone outside USA more so than in the USA even.

2. Is anything other than a trademark going to be sufficient under the Bill. i.e. lots of businesses have rights under common law but dont bother having a trademark. Do they have rights in the .com they have been using for years ?

DG

 

[sashas]

If this bill gets passed, America will be even more popular throughout the world. Just what it needed after its Imperial Iraq debacle :smilewinkgrin:

 

[Stian]

OK guys, before everyone panics totally. Let's try to speculate a little:

1. What are the chances that the bill will pass?

2. If the bill passes, how long will it take until it becomes active/initiated?

3. When/if the bill is initiated, how long will it take until we see any action taken? Can big companies start picking our domains like apples, or will every single dispute case need to go through a trial/court hearing?

Everyone must of course do everything they can to stop this bill from going through, but in the worst case scenario - how bad will it really be for us domainers?

If the bill passes, we will work our way around it. We'll find a solution to it! Try to think positively, instead of talking about doomsday and the end of domaining.

 

[sashas]

Stian, IMO, this bill will not get passed. Its co-sponsored by Ted Stevens, who's got an amazing amount of flak for his stand on net neutrality already. If any senator is smart enough to actually read the whole bill, and if the relevant concerns are brought to light, this bill has no way of going through.

And yes, even if it does go through, we will work around this. Thats what all good businesses do. They modify themselves. Recorded music didn't kill off live music, and neither did movies kill off photography.

 

[VTEC]

signature
goal: 2,000


why was it 5,000 yesterday ??

 

[draggar]

The good Senator has deigned to blog about this -

http://blog.thehill.com/2008/02/29/protect-internet-consumers-from-fraud-and-theft-sen-olympia-snowe


It's full potential of getting hijacked by her backers, the big money crowd over at cadna.org, seems more palatable to the lady.

It also has a section for comments, which I will do later today (I need to walk the dogs and go to work now).

 

[Focus]

We are'nt gonna "work around" anything..this Bill is unconstitutional, un-american & downright excessive and does'nt do a damn thing to thwart phishing that is'nt already being done! The bill is seriously a wolf in sheep's clothing.

 

[Rockefeller]

signature
goal: 2,000


why was it 5,000 yesterday ??

2,000 is a bit more realistic, I can always change it later.

 

[boz]

please explain why I should have to give the US government $325 for the fair use of each of my domains.

you guys are off the planet!

No need to go registering a trademark in the US - register one in your own country. Same protection rights - you run a domain name that has an accompanying trademark.

However, if you do business in the US using your domain name, then you should look at registering in the US if the domain name is valuable enough.

See my other posts re: this.

... Perhaps a parking system can implement a quick blog in to their system and the domain owners can "publish" an occasional blog, hence creating copyrighted intellectual property (and rank better in the SERPS). I'm not sure if this sounds idiotic, it very well might, but there's has to be a way to outsmart them.

My registry www.dotlinkers.com/ gives free blogs with every domain name registered, so you could start there :smilewinkgrin:

 

[LizzeyDripping]

Where is John BH standing on all this?!

The eloquent and relevant comments he makes on any legal issues would be very very welcome here, I reckon, and may help dispel a few uncertainties.

 

[tristanperry]

Everyone, send your concerns directly to this idiot Senator:

http://snowe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorSnowe.Email

Although despite thinking Senator Snowe is a prat, I'll obviously keep it civil.

 

[Deleted member 5660]

My opinion:

They don't care about petitions and e-mail. You need to call their office and find the staff member who is working on the bill. Then be able to explain in a short conversation what the problem is. If you go on with some long diatribe they will not listen/read any of it. You need short, concise, bullets/sound bites.

After seeing some of the long letters I don't think they will read them and/or they will just ask you why you don't just get your own TM if you have a legitimate business. You need to have a good answer to that question.

Remember, they read hundreds and hundreds of comments on every bill (they actually don't read, they scan). Most legislatures don't even have time to read all the bills and they certainly don't read all the comments. This is why lobbyists take them to lunch, golfing, etc., to get their attention.

Also, try listing some bad UDRP decisions, something the person of the street will understand.

Also call your local reps and find out who on their staff handles technology bills and talk to them.

 

[VirtualT]

Where is John BH standing on all this?!

probably looking at new cars and luxury boats

 

[Rockefeller]

Several people have asked about a code for a banner for their sites:

<div id="peSiteTargetDiv567909683"><a href="http://www.thepetitionsite.com/" style="display: block; width: 252px; text-align: center; font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Petition powered by ThePetitionSite.com</a></div>
<script src="http://www.thepetitionsite.com/js/widget.js?petitionID=567909683"></script>

 

[Electric-Shadow]

Hi guys

ain't been on in a while.

This all seems unfair to us mere domainers, imho if this bill were to pass it would in a sense be infringing on our human rights, property ( namely domains ) we lawfully purchased and lawfully own could be taken right from under our noses just because big companies got a TM and want the domain for themselves.

 

[HomerJ]

Several people have asked about a code for a banner for their sites:

<div id="peSiteTargetDiv567909683"><a href="http://www.thepetitionsite.com/" style="display: block; width: 252px; text-align: center; font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Petition powered by ThePetitionSite.com</a></div>
<script src="http://www.thepetitionsite.com/js/widget.js?petitionID=567909683"></script>

Awesome Rock! I got it up on my site already!

 

[draggar]

William Kuehn , New York - 1,000th signer!

 

[Gerry]

Feel free to copy this banner from one of my sites.

http://ceuq.com/images//snowe.jpg

You can thank all the cybersquatters for this.

Do you have one domain that you are parking? Then you are cyber squatting.

 

[fab]

Boy, this thread is moving faster than Political Threads, sounds serious!

 

[Rockefeller]

If the bill passes, we will work our way around it. We'll find a solution to it! Try to think positively, instead of talking about doomsday and the end of domaining.

Agreed.