29 September 2013

ICANN, new gTLDs, malicious activity

Some say that the new professional domains, such as .bank, will bamboozle the public and become a con man’s dream. Others say the new domains are a complete waste of time.(source infra)

Keep an eye on top level domain name chancers: " . . . .David Harley, senior research fellow for Eset, agrees. “There's potential here for an expansion of such malicious activity.” At AVG Technologies, director David Haadsma is critical of ICANNs handling of TLDs. “It’s been easy enough for ICANN to create a new top level domain and make a tidy sum for it in the process, but as the years pass who’s going to regulate and police this confusing domain landscape for trademark, privacy and property issues?”. . ." (read more at link above)

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26 September 2013

Domain Names, hijacking, abuse

News links:

What You Should Learn from the Diigo Domain Hijacking incident

What To Do When Your Domain is Hijacked? | B R A N D A I D E | From Bricks to Clicks

architelos | Domain Name Wire: "The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today published a patent application (pdf) for Architelos‘ NameSentry domain abuse protection system. The patent application is officially titled “Managing Domain Name Abuse” and was filed in March 2012." (read more at link above)

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24 September 2013

Apothecarie, dot com Domain Change

Apothecarie.com Announces Domain Change to Reflect the Company’s Worldwide Clientele - Press Release - Digital Journal: "Apothecarie New York, announced that it has changed its online domain name from Apothecarieny.com to Apothecarie.com. The company has grown from a local boutique to an online enterprise providing premium skin care products to consumers around the United States and around the world. The domain name change was initiated to more accurately reflect the focus, clientele and direction of the company."

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22 September 2013

DNS, DoS attacks, internet addresses

The Economist explains: How does an internet name become an internet address? | The Economist: " . . . the underlying problem remains. DNS can still be poisoned through computer viruses that affect local networks or compromised servers that have their DNS subverted. Beyond poisoning, simpler attacks work too: China's recent outage occurred because of a denial-of-service (DoS) attack against one of its top-level DNS hosts, overloading it with bogus traffic and preventing people from performing DNS lookups. . . ."

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19 September 2013

Protecting Brands, Trademarks

Get the dot com, then prioritize before taking any action against infringers --

A New Approach to Fighting Cybersquatters | NEWS.GNOM.ES: "...smaller brands may be able to take action on the few domain registrations that infringe their trademarks, the reality for many large brand owners is that they have to heavily prioritise. To date, this has meant time consuming and costly filtering to find the high-value targets rather than domains that are purely parked and may never actually attract any traffic.... (read more at link above)

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17 September 2013

RDNH, HallofShame.com, Rick Schwartz

The HallofShame.com Press Release | The Rick Schwartz Domain Name and Traffic Blog RicksBlog.com | Home of the "Domain King": "The website www.hallofshame.com will shine a bright light on those companies found guilty of trying to hijack more than a domain name, but somebody’s business or dream. “Today is the day we begin the end of this disgusting practice. Since there is no legal or criminal penalty, these companies now put at risk their brands and entire online/offline reputations,” said Rick Schwartz owner of the website and leading the charge against those trying to steal domains and the lawyers that represent them. Until now Rick had been skewering these folks at Ricksblog.com after a Brazilian company was found guilty of trying to Reverse Hijack one of his domains, SaveMe.com, in March of 2012." (read more at link above)

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15 September 2013

USPTO, Applications for Marks Comprised of gTLDs

USPTO Publishes Draft Trademark Examination Guide Update Regarding Applications for Marks Comprised of gTLDs | Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP - JDSupra: "The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is currently considering applications to add up to 1,400 new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) to the Internet landscape, with some gTLDs opening for domain-name registrations beginning as early as late 2013. In response, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has prepared an update to the policy and procedures related to the USPTO’s handling of trademark applications for marks comprised of gTLDs, and has set forth the circumstances under which a mark consisting of a gTLD for domain-name registration or registry services may be registered." (read more at link above)

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12 September 2013

New gTLDs, fraud, criminals, ICANN

ICANN encouraging fraud, crime, unnecessary litigation and legal expenses -- the list could go on --

New dot com addresses | New web URLs | New .com - PC Advisor: "...One of the many issues with the new TLDs is that people are used to the .com and other geographical domain names. While the Trademark Clearing House should stop Joe Public from registering Harrods.mobile, the new system is bound to be used and abused by criminals looking to set up phishing sites. In theory, new rules should mean fraudulent sites are taken down within weeks rather than months, but it’s still worth being careful before entering your details once the new domain names are in use...."

Forewarned is forearmed.

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10 September 2013

Verisign wins objection against dot ecom

Some good news in the new gTLDs --

Verisign wins objection against .ecom top level domain name | Domain Name Wire: "Verisign has killed off eCommerce Inc.’s application for the .ecom top level domain name by winning a string similarity objection. Verisign, which acts as the registry for .com domain names, said it was probable that internet users would be confused by web addresses ending in .com and .ecom. It also said it is worried that registrants of .ecom domains might be confused, thinking they are actually registering a .com domain name." (read more at link above)

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08 September 2013

Choosing A Brandable Domain Name

How To Crowdsource Choosing A Brandable Domain Name | Search Engine Journal: " . . . The first step is to ensure that you start with an easily brandable domain . . . seven factors for choosing a strong, brandable domain:
  1. Choose a .com extension
  2. Be Memorable
  3. Be Relevant
  4. Make it Easy to Spell
  5. Sound Authoritative
  6. Be Short
  7. Be Unique"
(read more at link above)

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05 September 2013

Companies lock Web domains after New York Times hack

Locking it down makes sense for some --

Companies rush to lock Web domains after 'NYT' hack: "The list of companies scrambling to lock down their domains includes Adobe Systems, Barnes & Noble, Cosmopolitan, Cisco Systems, Engadget, Hyatt, IBM, Ikea, Lufthansa, McAfee, Neiman Marcus, Starbucks, Toshiba, TechCrunch, Victoria's Secret and VMware. The SEA used simple e-mail phishing trickery to steal the user name and password to an account used by one of Melbourne IT's distributors, says Bruce Tonkin, chief technology officer of Melbourne IT. Using that distributor's account, the hackers were able to access and alter the Domain Name System records for The New York Times, Huffington Post and Twitter, disrupting the website of the daily newspaper off line for about 20 hours."

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03 September 2013

Domain name registration, trademark infringement, China

A recent decision --

The relation between domain name registration and trademark infringement - Lexology: "   . . . To conclude, GUO ZHONG CO. LTD.’s registration of the disputed domain name has violated the good faith principle and business ethics. Such act has damaged WeiChai Co. Ltd.’s legitimate rights and interests and violated Article 2 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People’s Republic of China, which provides the meaning of “unfair competition”. In view of this, Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court dismissed GUO ZHONG CO. LTD.’s claim. . . . "

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01 September 2013

ICANN blasted for new gTLDs expansion

Even the New York Times weighs in on ICANN's gTLDs, and reports what a lot of others have been saying, but ICANN doesn't listen --

When You Can’t Tell Web Suffixes Without a Scorecard - NYTimes.com:  "...Some technology veterans and trademark experts view the domain expansion as largely unnecessary. “You are creating a business, like derivatives on Wall Street, that has no value,” says Esther Dyson, a technology investor who served as the founding chairwoman of Icann. “You can charge people for it, but you are contributing nothing to the happiness of humanity.” There’s a larger issue at stake, however. Advocates of Internet freedom contend that such an expanded address system effectively places online control over powerful commercial and cultural interests in the hands of individual companies, challenging the very idea of an open Internet. Existing generic domains, like .net and .com, overseen by Verisign Inc., a domain registry, have an open-use policy; that means consumers can buy domain names ending in .com directly from retail registrars like GoDaddy. With a new crop of applicants, however, Icann initially accepted proposals for closed or restricted generic domains, a practice that could limit competing views and businesses. “It’s a very legitimate competition concern,” says Jon Leibowitz, a former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission who recently joined the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell in Washington as a partner. “The public at large, consumers and businesses, would be better served by no expansion or less expansion” of domains...."

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