When Your Web Developer or Host Holds Your Domain Name Hostage

Our domain name dispute lawyers are contacted regularly by companies who have a falling out with their web developer and thereafter realize that the web developer has registered the domain name listing the web developer as registrant.  When the domain name is trademarked protected, this presents a number of issues for both the web developer and the trademark holder. 

If you have a domain theft issue, you may contact one of our domain dispute attorneys for a free evaluation or call 866.936.7447 (International Toll Free).

Domain Name Wire has great post and commentary concerning the problems presented when companies allow the web developer or host to control the domain registration.

Trademark Owners Must Pursue Cybersquatters or Potentially Lose Their Trademark Rights

In a case recently decided in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Miami Division, a court again lent credibility to the argument that a trademark owner’s failure to timely protect its trademark rights can result in a waiver of those rights altogether.  In Southern Grouts & Mortars, Inc. vs. 3M Company , Plaintiff Southern Grouts & Mortars sued Defendant 3M under the Lanham Act and the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act over its “DIAMOND BRITE” registered trademark.  3M registered an allegedly infringing domain name www.diamondbrite.com which was the primary driver for the trademark infringement lawsuit.

Pizza Hut Fails to Secure Domain Names as Part of Its Rebranding Effort

Pizza Hut decided to rebrand as “Pasta Hut” in the United Kingdom.  Unfortunately, the marketing geniuses behind the move failed to register the most obvious domain names related to the new brand, including pastahut.com, pastahut.net or pastahut.info.  Pizza Hut did register pastahut.co.uk and pasta-hut.co.uk.  A spokesperson for Pizza Hut offered the feeble response (no doubt trying to cover their collective butts on this major oversight) with the following quote:

But a Pasta Hut spokeswoman said the company had no interest in any of the web addresses that had already been bought. "We own Pastahut.co.uk and Pasta-hut.co.uk. There is no reason why we would want any of the others," she said.

Companies that fail to protect their on-line brands and trademarks will pay a heavy price later.  They will be either forced to purchase domains at an exorbitant price or go without all of the traffic which will no doubt be diverted to their competitors. 

Cybersquatting the Obama-Biden Ticket: Domain investors still don't udnerstand the UDRP and ACPA

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time - Blogs from CNN.com

The Obama campaign has succeeded partly through astute, unprecedented use of the Internet. But some of the most obvious Web site domain names for the Obama-Biden ticket might not actually belong to the campaign anytime soon — if ever.

After hearing about Obama's selection for his number-two slot, anyone who tried to surf to obamabiden.org was re-directed to an eBay page selling that domain name for a starting bid of $100,000.

As of 6:30 p.m. ET, there were no bids listed.

The same seller lists 15 similar domain names up for sale, including obama-biden.com, obama-biden.org, and obamabiden-08.com.

Technorati Tags: obama, biden, cybersquatting

Defensive registration of .me domains to prevent cybersquatting

BUY ME DOMAINS: Why should you get your dot me domain?

But why should you get your own .me domain if you're very happy with your .com domain already? We'll because of the simple fact that somebody else just might register it and possibly sell it to you at a higher price! It's nothing new. Cybersquatting is everywhere and rampant. Cybersquatters are people registering different extensions of other people's domains in the hope that one day they will be approached by somebody, sell it and make a profit out of it.

Defensive registration of domain names to protect your trademark rights and defend against cybersquatting is an important part of any company's on-line brand protection program.

Technorati Tags: cybersquatting, .me, domain names, trademark

If ICANN’s Domains Can Be Hacked, Then Your Domain Names Can Be Hacked

We get calls from companies all of the time indicating that they have lost control of their domain names.  Some companies have their registrant login information or email accounts hacked, providing the domain name thief direct access to the registrant account at the registrar level.  Some companies make critical mistakes in protecting their domain names, allowing for serious holes in their security and domain protections systems.  Other times, registrars simply screw up.

As is being reported at the domain name news, ICANN lost control of its valuable domain names as a result of a attack on the domain registrar register.com:  The full story is being reported in the New York Times in the article "ICANN Blames June Site Hijack on Registrar."   

ICANN Tries to Put An End to Domain Tasting and Opens the Door to New gTLDs

It is an exciting time for the development of the Internet, and it has gone almost unnoticed.  A number of developments in the domain name world have occurred today.  ICANN has paved the way to outlaw domain tasting at its Paris meeting this afternoon.  In April 2007, a supermajority of the GNSO (Generic Names Supporting Organization) council voted to discourage domain purchase grace periods in which refunds are given for the purchase of a domain within a set number of days, typically five.  In May 2007, ICANN's at-large advisory committee again asked the GNSO to look at the domain tasting issue, and they came up with five problem areas to address in regards to domain tasting.  Today, ICANN enacted a proposal that will prohibit those registrars that offer the grace periods from offering a refund for domain names that exceed 10% of the registrar's net registrations for the month or, alternatively, 50 domain names, whichever is greater. 

Additionally, the ICANN board voted to approve a massive expansion to the available domain names.  This new expansion, which must still be ratified by the ICANN board (expected in 2009), will allow applicants to the gTLD process to select their own suffixes.  This recommendation paves the way to allow trademark holders to select more marketable suffixes, e.g. diet.pepsi or pumps.reebok, and it allows cities to apply for suffixes (e.g. .newyork & .chicago).  It will be interesting to see how this affects trademark holders, and how it will affect the value of the current premium TLDs such as .com. 

Protecting Your Trademark In Light of ICANN's New Generic Top-Level Domain Names

Domain names have become an important part of our commercial lives.  They act as designators of products and services and serve as shortcuts to reduce consumer search costs.  That is why trademark owners must be vigilant in protecting their trademark rights on the Internet.  On June 24, ICANN gathered to discuss adding new generic top-level domain names, or gTLDs, to the spectrum of available domain name suffixes.  When ICANN adds gTLDs, you can be sure that cybersquatters and typosquatters are watching because it presents them with a new opportunity to register the trademark of another to profit off of the goodwill and Internet traffic associated with the mark.  Domain name disputes inevitably follow the addition of TLDs, so it is important to hire an attorney that is proactive in monitoring the use of your trademarks on the Internet.

New Domain Search Tool Claims To Ensure Upstream Privacy For Domain Availability Search

The Over-the-Rhine-based advertising firm metaphor went to buy an
Internet domain name last winter after a preliminary search found it to
be available, but before they could buy it, the name was snatched away
by an outfit based in the Bahamas with links to China.

• Check out LiberateDomains.com

Metaphor has created a new software application which it claims is a safer way to quietly check on the availability of domain names - of growing importance for both commercial and personal use as the Internet expands.

Battling domain idea theft | Cincinnati Enquirer | Cincinnati.Com

Davis says metaphor's new program - which is being launched on the 25th anniversary of the program that changed the Internet from a number-based to a word-based system - is open-sourced and verifiable, making searches for possible names more secure.

"We're not going to hide how it operates, and we're taking every reasonable effort we can to prevent ourselves or others from snooping on the process," Davis said.

Originally intended as purely an in-house tool, the first version was "originally just hacked together" by Davis and his team. But metaphor chief executive Ran Mullins immediately saw the potential of a commercial launch.

You can also download editspot's white paper on cybersquatting and front running here.

Fighting Cybersquatters Will Potentially Enhance, Extend and Strengthen Your Trademark Rights

Some companies take laxed view of cybersquatted domains, including typosquatters who are in clear violation of the UDRP and ACPA.  To often, a trademark holder analyzes the matter purely in terms of traffic.  They assume, wrongly in some instances, that a typosquatted domain isn’t generating much traffic anyway.  They may not understand direct navigation or fail to employ the analytic tools available in order to measure traffic being diverted from their trademark protected websites.