legal issues

DNS / blogs / May 07, 2008 6:52 PM PST

A Patent for SiteFinder-Like Resolution

I saw an interesting news item that broke Monday courtesy of DomainNameNews and SlashDot that hasn't been broadly covered yet. I'm surprised no one has posted on this yet on CircleID, so here goes. Apparently VeriSign has been awarded a patent for the resolution of mis-typed domain names. This was at the heart of the controversy back in 2003 around their SiteFinder Service. Amidst a storm of criticism ICANN insisted VeriSign shut down the service, and the company eventually agreed. ›››

By Christopher Parente | Comments: 7 | Views: 438

DNS / blogs / Apr 26, 2008 12:25 PM PST

Brand Complementors: Implementing a Cooperative Domain-Name Use

The essay expands a cooperative solution to third-party use of brands in domain names. Like any approach that depends on cooperation, the solution will require both sides to change behavior but also allow both sides to take credit for the resulting benefits, i.e. a triangular solution. If not immediately addressed, the problem of third-party use can become a major threat to the industry. But we already know one thing: when it comes to this issue, legal action and bullying don't work. ›››

By Alex Tajirian | Comments: 0 | Views: 918

Broadband, Privacy / blogs / Apr 23, 2008 12:27 PM PST

Important New Jersey Supreme Court Decision in Internet Privacy

The New Jersey Supreme Court has issued an important decision on Internet users' right to privacy. The case involves a dispute about whether an ISP violated a user's privacy rights by turning over subscriber information (name, address, billing details) associated with a particular IP address. It ends up that the subpoena served on the ISP was invalid for a variety of reasons. As the user had a 'reasonable expectation of privacy' in her Internet activities and identifying information, and because the subpoena served on the ISP was invalid, the New Jersey court determined that the ISP should not have turned over the personal data... ›››

By Daniel J. Weitzner | Comments: 1 | Views: 1002

DNS / blogs / Apr 04, 2008 11:02 AM PST

New Publication on Updating the Anti-Cybersquatting Regime and Ad-Based Cybersquatting

Sealing the cracks: a proposal to update the anti-cybersquatting regime to combat advertising-based cybersquatting is the title of an article by Christopher Varas in the April issue of the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice. In this article, the author labels "modern cybersquatting" the monetization of domain names through PPC advertisements, and says that brand owners lack effective tools to combat this practice... ›››

By Cedric Manara | Comments: 0 | Views: 492

DNS / news / Mar 28, 2008 3:54 PM PST

WIPO Reports Record Number of Domain Disputes in 2007

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has received 2,156 complaints alleging "abusive registration of trademarks on the Internet" in 2007, up 18 percent from 2006 and 48 percent more than the filings lodged in 2005. Most complaints came from the pharmaceutical, banking, telecommunications, retail and entertainment sectors. ›››

By CircleID Reporter | Comments: 3 | Views: 1101

DNS / blogs / Mar 26, 2008 8:17 PM PST

A Third, More Interesting Round in E360 vs. Comcast

In the past week, Comcast filed an answer, denying all of E360's charges, and attached to it a motion to file a most impressive counterclaim. The court granted the motion on Monday so the counterclaim has been filed. At about the same time, E360 filed its response to Comcast's previous motion to dismiss the suit due to its utter lack of legal merit. ›››

By John Levine | Comments: 0 | Views: 1089

DNS / news / Mar 18, 2008 3:32 PM PST

Lawsuit Against ICANN for Denying .xxx Top-Level Domain is Now Possible, Says Attorney

The company behind the proposed .xxx top-level domain, which was rejected after the Bush administration intervened, has been trying to dig up embarrassing government documents through a federal lawsuit. Make that "was trying." Last week a federal judge granted summary judgment to the Bush administration in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit brought by the ICM Registry›››

By CircleID Reporter | Comments: 0 | Views: 1683

DNS / blogs / Mar 15, 2008 10:12 PM PST

Robert Soloway Pleads Guilty

Large scale spammer Robert Soloway, whose criminal trial was scheduled to start in a week and a half pled guilty to most of the charges against him. The indictment made three categories of charges. Counts 1-10 were mail fraud, due to Soloway delivering his spamware through the mail, and the product egregiously failing to be what he said it was, notably including 30 million addresses purported to be opt-in. Counts 11-17 seven were wire fraud, sending spam making false claims about the product, support, guarantee... ›››

By John Levine | Comments: 0 | Views: 1432

DNS / blogs / Mar 11, 2008 7:11 PM PST

Wikileaks Calls for Boycott of Domain Registrar eNom

In the aftermath of the shutdown of Wikileaks.org by a court order issued at the request of Swiss Bank Julius Baer, Wikileaks has called for the boycott of registrar eNom. eNom is best known as the domain registrar that complied with the federal government's order to shut down a Spanish travel agency because it did business with Cuba -- the agency was not under U.S. jurisdiction and so was hardly violating U.S. law, but their domain was registered in the United States, and that was good enough for the feds. ›››

By Edward Falk | Comments: 3 | Views: 2145

DNS / blogs / Mar 06, 2008 11:19 AM PST

Comcast Fires Back at E360

Back in January, bulk mailer E360 filed a suit against giant cable ISP Comcast. This week Comcast responded with a withering response... Their memorandum of law wastes no time getting down to business: "Plaintiff is a spammer who refers to itself as a "internet marketing company," and is in the business of sending email solicitations and advertisements to millions of Internet users, including many of Comcast's subscribers." Comcast's analysis is similar to but even stronger than the one I made in January... ›››

By John Levine | Comments: 0 | Views: 2587

DNS / blogs / Mar 04, 2008 4:03 PM PST

Don’t Register Your Domain in the U.S. if it’s Controversial

In the news lately have been a number of incidents where U.S. courts, or the U.S. government itself has ordered domain registrars to shut down free speech. First was the E360 vs Spamhaus case, in which accused spammer E360 Insight sued anti-spam organization Spamhaus for labeling them as spammers and won by default when Spamhaus insisted that U.S. courts did not have jurisdiction over them in England and didn't appear. Unfortunately, U.S. courts did have jurisdiction over Spamhaus' domain registrar, who was nearly ordered to shut Spamhaus down (a court order was under consideration). Fortunately, Spamhaus was able to move their registration overseas before any shutdown order could be issued... ›››

By Edward Falk | Comments: 8 | Views: 3102

DNS, Privacy, Whois / blogs / Mar 04, 2008 12:06 PM PST

The Anti-Phishing Consumer Protection Act of 2008

Last week Sen. Snowe filed bill S.2661, the Anti-Phishing Consumer Protection Act of 2008, or APCPA. While its goals are laudable, I have my doubts about some of the details. The first substantive section of the bill, Section 3, makes various phishy activities more illegal than they are now in its first two subsections. It makes it specifically illegal to solicit identifying information from a computer under false pretenses, and to use a domain name that is deceptively similar to someone else's brand or name on the web in e-mail or IM to mislead people... ›››

By John Levine | Comments: 17 | Views: 9038

DNS, Privacy, Whois / blogs / Mar 01, 2008 3:14 PM PST

ICA Posts Position Paper and Analysis of Snowe “Anti-Phishing” Legislation

The Internet Commerce Association (ICA) has posted a position paper and analysis of S. 2661, introduced on 2/25/08 in the US Senate. While we are firmly opposed to phishing and other criminal activities that may utilize domain names we are very concerned about the provisions of the proposal that appear to provide trademark owners with a means to avoid both UDRP and ACPA actions and alternatively bring private claims against domain names with a lower burden of proof and the potential for far higher monetary damages, without even requiring an allegation that the DN was in any way being utilized in a phishing scheme... ›››

By Philip S Corwin | Comments: 2 | Views: 2102

DNS / blogs / Feb 29, 2008 4:59 PM PST

Virginia Supreme Court Rejects First Amendment Challenge to Spam Statute

Thanks to Prof. Goldman I see that the Virginia Supreme Court issued its opinion in Jaynes, the state-law criminal spam case that has wound its way through the courts there. It affirms the conviction and rejects the various challenges to Virginia's spam statute... As a side note I should say that it's not often one is actually excited to read an order in a case you're not involved with. This is definitely one of those instances where the excitement is palpable... The news reports billed the case as the first felony conviction for sending spam. ›››

By Venkat Balasubramani | Comments: 0 | Views: 1801

Broadband / blogs / Feb 28, 2008 12:17 PM PST

On Comcast and Net Neutrality: Shouting Fire in a Theater

The Comcast traffic shaping case has stirred up passionate debate. Net neutrality proponents are calling for Comcast's head on a platter. The common argument is that Comcast's policy may stifle innovation and competition. If a service provider is allowed to exercise unregulated discretion in how it treats subscriber traffic, it is a slippery slope toward anti-competitive practices. Net neutrality says keep your hands off. Some are preaching net neutrality as if it were an inalienable human right like freedom of speech... ›››

By Dan Campbell | Comments: 4 | Views: 2656
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Industry Updates

DNS / May 06, 2008 12:16 PM PST

Oversee.net’s DomainSponsor Presents 3rd Annual DOMAINfest Global

The third annual DOMAINfest Global, the premier conference and networking event for the domain name industry, will be held at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Hollywood, California from January 28-30, 2009. Event registration will open later this year. ›››

By DomainSponsor | Views: 172

DNS / May 02, 2008 12:21 PM PST

.NL Auction Sneak Peak!

Join Sedo for our much anticipated .NL auction, being held from May 2nd 4pm (EST) until May 9th at approximately 4pm (EST). As the worth of the .NL continues to increase, so does the demand. ›››

By Sedo | Views: 288

DNS / Apr 30, 2008 12:01 PM PST

dotMobi Requests Proposals for find.mobi

dotMobi today announced that is accepting proposals for find.mobi, a consumer-facing mobile search tool; find.mobi was created by dotMobi's research and development team to demonstrate an operational mobile search engine that made the most of the mobile web and needs of on-the-go users. ›››

By dotMobi | Views: 471

DNS / Apr 28, 2008 4:08 PM PST

dotMobi Offers Prime Selection of Generic Domain Names to Spur Mobile Web Growth

As part of its ongoing series of unique methods of allocating Internet domain names, dotMobi is bringing 16 "premium names" to market at Moniker's T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East Auction on May 23, 2008. ›››

By dotMobi | Views: 693

DNS / Apr 28, 2008 1:41 PM PST

Sedo’s Better-than-Ever Brokerage Service!

Sedo's brokerage services are being updated with a new process for submitting both buyer and seller side brokerage requests and enhanced communications tools.  ›››

By Sedo | Views: 537

DNS / Apr 18, 2008 11:50 AM PST

Sedo’s Matt Bentley a Featured Speaker at Internet World Conference

Direct Navigation a key theme at this year's conference. Sedo, the leading online market place for buying and selling Internet domain names and websites, will be a featured presenter at this year's Internet World conference. ›››

By Sedo | Views: 951

DNS / Apr 16, 2008 8:00 AM PST

dotMobi Joins Forces with DomainsBot to Help Businesses More Easily Find New .mobi Internet Addresse

DomainsBot, the leading domain name suggestion and search engine company, will now include .mobi in their domain name search and suggestion tool, used by the majority of the world's best-known Internet domain name retailers. ›››

By dotMobi | Views: 1063

DNS / Apr 10, 2008 10:45 AM PST

.NU and .SH Auctions Start Today! Join Sedo for Side by Side Auctions

Both auctions will start at 11AM CET on April 10th and end approximately one week later at 11AM CET on April 17th. ›››

By Sedo | Views: 1309

DNS / Apr 08, 2008 9:02 AM PST

Oversee.net Names David Subar Chief Technology Officer

David Subar will be responsible for building and implementing technology that supports Oversee's core activities in its Domain Services and Marketing Services divisions, while aligning the Company's technology resources for further expansion. ›››

By DomainSponsor | Views: 1391

DNS / Apr 07, 2008 8:51 PM PST

Sedo Introduces New Customer Support Center

With almost a 180,000 customers across the US and Canada, this online Customer Support Center will enable our members to benefit from faster turnaround times and more accurate responses. ›››

By Sedo | Views: 1255

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