Yahoo Wins Yahooos.com Domain Name in Arbitration
An arbitrator with the National Arbitration Forum has recently awarded the domain name Yahooos.com to Yahoo.The company submitted the complaint on April 29,2014.
According to whois records, the domain name was first registered in 2013.
Yahoo owns many trademark registrations for the “Yahoo” mark all over the world.Therefore,it is more than obvious that the disputed domain name is confusingly similar with its trademark .Moreover,the company contended in the complaint that the respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name and that the respondent registered and used the disputed domain name in bad faith .
One of the key points of this complaint was when Yahoo managed to demonstrate that “the domain name was acquired “primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the domain name registration to the complainant who is the owner of the trademark or service mark or to a competitor of that complainant, for valuable consideration of [Respondent’s] documented out-of-pocket costs directly related to the domain name.”
Yahoo managed to establish all three elements required under the ICANN Policy and the Panel ordered the disputed domain name to be transferred from the respondent to the complainant.
You can read the decision here .
Google Attempts To Shake Up Domain Registration Industry
Google is going to attempt give the domain name registration business a shakeup launching a beta invitation-only service that will see domain registrations in the US going for $12 per year.
Justifying their foray into another field, Google claim their “research shows that 55 percent of small businesses still don’t have [a domain name].
“So as we explore ways to help small businesses succeed online (through tools like Google My Business, we thought it made sense to look more closely at the starting point of every business’s online presence – a website. And that starts with a domain name.”
The service will be invitation-only to begin and unless you go through the procedure of applying for an invitation, there seems no way of knowing how many TLDs the service will cover. But currently Google is only accredited to sell domain names for seven gTLDs – .biz, .com, .info, .name, .net, .org, and .pro. Google’s blurb refers to being able to choose “.com, .biz, .org or any of the wide range of new domains that are being released to the Web.” This would assume they will be signing the 2013 RAA quite soon.
Additionally, as many ccTLDs and gTLDs cost registrars much more than this, it is likely that the number of TLDs available will be limited.
The service will also provide tools to easily build a website (extra cost), no additional cost for private registration, up to 100 email aliases, customisable sub-domains and easy domain forwarding, most of which existing registrars provide.
The announcement is also likely to impact on GoDaddy the most and in a couple of significant ways – one is to provide competition on price and the other is that GoDaddy, about to launch an IPO, could see the value of the company reduced.
“This puts them in direct competition with GoDaddy,” said Keith Timimi, chairman of VML Qais, a digital marketing service agency, reported BBC News.
Google, already an ICANN-accredited registrar, signed the 2009 Registrar Accreditation Agreement that allowed it the option of applying for accreditation to sell the 17 gTLDs prior to the new gTLD expansion.
It may be worrying for existing registrars of the might of Google, but it would likely raise the ire of antitrust authorities, in the US and Europe in particular, should their search services give preference to Google as a registrar.
London Police Assists In Suspending 188 Domains Over Counterfeit Goods
[news release] The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) has assisted Europol and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), to seize 188 domain names that were illegally selling counterfeit merchandise online to unsuspecting consumers.
The 188 domain names were seized last week as part of project ‘In Our Sites (IOS) – Transatlantic 4’. The websites were set up to dupe consumers into unknowingly buying counterfeit products. The operation was coordinated by Europol for the participating EU Member States with the City of London Police unit representing the United Kingdom and the HSI-led National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) in Washington, DC for the US.
The most popular counterfeit products concerned included headphones, sports jerseys, personal care products, shoes, toys, luxury goods, cell phones and electronic accessories.
During the last few weeks Europol and the IPR Center received leads from trademark holders regarding the infringing websites. Those leads were disseminated to law enforcement authorities in the affected countries, with PIPCU leading on the UK domains names.
Visitors typing those domain names into their web browsers will now find a banner that notifies them of the seizure and about the crime of wilful copyright infringement.
PIPCU Detective Inspector, Rob Stirling, said, “PIPCU is proud to support our law enforcement partners across the globe in the fight against intellectual property crime.
“It is important that we make sure the public is aware of the risks of buying counterfeits. Not only are fake goods likely to be shoddy copies of the original and potentially dangerous, but consumers are also putting their personal and financial information at risk. Consumers need to be cautious when shopping online. If you think an offer seems too good to be true, then it probably is. Do not rush and be fooled into thinking you are getting a good deal.”
Project ‘In Our Sites’ is a sustained law enforcement initiative that began to protect consumers by targeting the sale of counterfeit merchandise on the Internet. The 188 domain names seized under Operation In Our Sites 4 – Transatlantic bring the total number of IOS domain names seized to 1349 since the IOS Transatlantic project began in November 2012.
PIPCU is a specialist police unit dedicated to protecting the UK industries that produce legitimate, high quality, physical goods and online and digital content from intellectual property crime.
The operationally independent unit launched in September 2013 and is initially being funded by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), which is part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. PIPCU is based within the Economic Crime Directorate of the City of London Police, the National Lead Force for Fraud.
This news release was sourced from:
www.cityoflondon.police.uk/advice-and-support/fraud-and-economic-crime/pipcu/pipcu-news/Pages/PIPCU-assists-in-suspending-188-websites-.aspx
MM.com Sells for $1,2 Million
MM.COM domain name was sold for a whopping $1,2 million via Sedo.According to whois records, the domain name was first registered in 1994.
Since at least 1995, the domain name was owned by Minnesota MicroNet, according to whois records. The company is using now the domain name mnmicro.net.
The buyer seems to be Hnagzhou Duomai E-Commerce Co., Ltd,according to the whois records.
At the time of writing this article, the domain name displays the message : “This domain name may be for sale.Click here to make an offer” .
Congratulations to both the seller and the buyer.
ICANN : Westlake Governance Appointed to Conduct Independent Review of the GNSO
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”) has appointed Westlake Governance Limited (“Westlake Governance”) to conduct an independent review of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (“GNSO”).
This review is part of ICANN’s commitment to continuous improvement, accountability and transparency.
The GNSO serves an important function – it is responsible for developing and recommending to the ICANN Board substantive policies relating to generic top-level domains.
The purpose of the review is to evaluate organizational effectiveness of the GNSO, acknowledge areas that are working well, identify areas that need improvement and propose needed changes. This review, like reviews of other structures within ICANN, is mandated by ICANN’s Bylaws.
The GNSO Review addresses the new, improved approach to conducting reviews. The GNSO will be a protagonist in this inclusive process: in keeping with ICANN’s bottom-up, multistakeholder approach, this review process will incorporate a “self-review” by the GNSO community and its direct involvement. An online survey will collect feedback from other ICANN structures and community members, the Board and staff. Westlake will collect both quantitative and qualitative data through various work methods to develop a sufficient basis for formulating findings and recommendations. The review will begin immediately and is expected to conclude in January 2015.
The selection of an independent examiner is done in accordance with the process defined in SIC Systematization of Organizational Reviews Processes [PDF, 671 KB] and involves Organizational Review staff and the Structural Improvements Committee of the Board (“SIC”). Seven proposals were carefully evaluated and the evaluation results and scores were presented for consideration and action by the ICANN Board Structural Improvements Committee. The selection criteria included: Knowledge and Expertise (including knowledge of ICANN), Qualifications of the Professional Team Assigned (including ability to act independently, without conflict of interest); Proposed Methodology; Ability to Deliver High Quality, Useful Report and Recommendations; and Costs.
Westlake Governance is a globally-focused, New Zealand-based consulting firm, serving clients from a wide cross-section of not-for-profit, commercial and government-owned sectors. The firm has performed reviews of ICANN’s At-Large Advisory Committee (“ALAC”) and the Root Server System Advisory Committee (“RSSAC”).
This announcement was sourced from :
