http://www.circleid.com/ Postings from George Kirikos on CircleID en Copyright 2008, unless where otherwise noted. 2008-10-24T06:12:00-08:00 http://www.circleid.com/posts/20081024_verisign_tiered_domain_pricing_soon http://www.circleid.com/posts/20081024_verisign_tiered_domain_pricing_soon More...]]> 2008-10-24T06:12:00-08:00 http://www.circleid.com/posts/86215_potential_danger_ahead_dot_info_policy http://www.circleid.com/posts/86215_potential_danger_ahead_dot_info_policy ICANN has posted a request by Afilias for a new registry service in relation to "abusive" domains in dot-info. While in general the proposal is motivated by good intentions, the devil is in the details. While most folks (including myself) probably care very little about the .info TLD, my concern is that any bad implementation in .info might be copied or used as a precedent in other more important TLDs, in particular .com run by VeriSign. More...]]> 2008-06-21T16:07:00-08:00 http://www.circleid.com/posts/710118_short_domain_names_igo_udrp http://www.circleid.com/posts/710118_short_domain_names_igo_udrp draft report on dispute resolution procedures for IGO (inter-governmental organization) domain names. This proposal has deep flaws and should be rejected by the community, as it does not have the balance and protection of registrant rights present in the existing UDRP. Initially, the proposed policy would apply to new Top-Level Domains (TLDs), but via a Policy Development Process (PDP) it could be extended to existing TLDs. More...]]> 2007-10-01T18:29:00-08:00 http://www.circleid.com/posts/79133_microsoft_files_cybersquatting_cases http://www.circleid.com/posts/79133_microsoft_files_cybersquatting_cases Inside Indiana Business article. I took the liberty of accessing the cases via the PACER system, and posted the major documents... It looks like they're stepping up efforts to defend their trademarks, and seeking big damages in court, rather than go the way of the UDRP. These cases demonstrate that new TLDs should not be a priority with ICANN until the problems in existing TLDs are addressed. More...]]> 2007-09-13T14:58:00-08:00 http://www.circleid.com/posts/78298_ireit_drops_typo_domains http://www.circleid.com/posts/78298_ireit_drops_typo_domains iREIT (Internet REIT, Inc.), a Texas domain name portfolio investment corporation, has been sued by Verizon and by Vulcan Golf for cybersquatting. It appears iREIT is taking steps to clean up its portfolio by deleting obvious typos of famous trademarks... More...]]> 2007-08-29T08:23:01-08:00 http://www.circleid.com/posts/070807_transparency_domain_name_pricing http://www.circleid.com/posts/070807_transparency_domain_name_pricing Tucows issued a press release today wherein they announced lower domain name pricing and enhanced services. The bigger change, which might set a trend for other registrars, is the greater transparency of the registry and ICANN fees relative to the fees charged by Tucows... If all registrars were to quote domain name prices in this manner (I had called it "Asterisk Prices" when I had suggested the idea to various registrars last December, for lack of a better term), it would shift the blame to ICANN and the monopoly registry operators (e.g. VeriSign) every time they raised their fees. More...]]> 2007-08-07T08:43:00-08:00 http://www.circleid.com/posts/neustar_losing_us_domain_name http://www.circleid.com/posts/neustar_losing_us_domain_name Neustar is facing a potential loss of the Dot-US franchise as competitors bid against them. Why might this be of interest to .com registrants? ...The issue of antitrust with regards to the .com agreement has never really been properly settled, as a well-funded complainant hasn't brought forward a case to full fruition in the courts. ICANN sold out the public by agreeing to a settlement that would see its own coffers swell, at the expense of registrants, so they do not count. More...]]> 2007-07-31T13:18:00-08:00 http://www.circleid.com/posts/bmw_goes_after_bmwcat http://www.circleid.com/posts/bmw_goes_after_bmwcat filed a WIPO case over the BMW.cat domain name. Other prospective new TLD operators have tried to suggest in ICANN meetings that these new TLDs do not cause problems with cybersquatting or defensive registrations... Obviously, given the above WIPO case, that statement is false. More...]]> 2007-06-28T16:40:00-08:00 http://www.circleid.com/posts/ireit_answer_verizon_case http://www.circleid.com/posts/ireit_answer_verizon_case iREIT filed its answer on May 25, 2007, to the recent complaint by Verizon alleging cybersquatting. As in the prior article, these are the public court documents and nothing has been proven by either side in a court of law. More...]]> 2007-05-28T15:56:00-08:00 http://www.circleid.com/posts/wipo_britishmuseum_org_case http://www.circleid.com/posts/wipo_britishmuseum_org_case More...]]> 2007-04-26T07:59:00-08:00 http://www.circleid.com/posts/verizon_ireit_court_lawsuit http://www.circleid.com/posts/verizon_ireit_court_lawsuit story, and I used the PACER system to obtain the court filings, which are posted here. Exhibit 5 makes fascinating reading, especially when point #43 in the main statement of claim says "Exhibit 5 details only one famous trademark for each letter of the alphabet." More...]]> 2007-04-10T15:54:00-08:00 http://www.circleid.com/posts/alternative_to_xxx_iana_assignments http://www.circleid.com/posts/alternative_to_xxx_iana_assignments list at here... In a real sense, the IANA port assignments are just suggestions to the world as to what to expect on certain ports, whether it be a mail server, WHOIS, FTP, POP email or any other service/protocol. More...]]> 2007-03-17T09:13:00-08:00 http://www.circleid.com/posts/dot_xxx_tiered_differential_pricing_permitted http://www.circleid.com/posts/dot_xxx_tiered_differential_pricing_permitted big debate about tiered/differential pricing in the .biz/info/org contracts. Eventually those contracts were amended to prevent that. However, if folks read the .XXX proposed contractv [PDF], Appendix S, Part 2, under "delegated authority" (page 66 of the PDF), appears to give the Registry Operator total control to make policy regarding pricing. Thus, it would appear they are in a position to re-price domains that later become successful... More...]]> 2007-02-08T11:43:00-08:00 http://www.circleid.com/posts/icann_tiered_pricing_tld_biz_info_org_domain http://www.circleid.com/posts/icann_tiered_pricing_tld_biz_info_org_domain More...]]> 2006-08-23T16:23:00-08:00 http://www.circleid.com/posts/verisign_director_charged_with_securities_fraud http://www.circleid.com/posts/verisign_director_charged_with_securities_fraud reporting that Gregory Reyes is facing criminal and civil charges in relation to securities fraud. Reuters and the Mercury News also have coverage. "Former Brocade Communications Systems Inc. Chief Executive Officer Gregory Reyes became the first CEO charged in the U.S. probe of the backdating of stock option grants to create lucrative employee pay packages." More...]]> 2006-07-20T13:00:01-08:00