Intellectual Property

Award-winning actress Kate Hudson submitted a complaint with the National Arbitration Forum this week over the domain KateHudson.com. She is asking that the name be transferred to her. The registrant is Fei Zhu, a Shanghai resident. He has owned the name since 2006, but it will be hard for him …

A Pennsylvania judge ruled earlier this week that the domain AAA.net be transferred to the American Automobile Association (AAA). The judgment ended a long legal battle between the AAA and the registrant, James M. Van Johns. AAA claimed that Van Johns and his company, QTK Internet, Inc, were committing cybersquatting …

The cellular provider famous for its “Can you hear my now?” adverts is making itself heard. This week Verizon filed a number of lawsuits against cybersquatters. Some of the domains involved are varizon.com, vierzon.com, and virazon.com. These clearly infringe upon Verizon’s trademark. The company is demanding $100,000 per domain in …

Yahoo’s recent complaint with the National Arbitration Forum over Yahoo.tel has been resolved. In the first-ever arbitration ruling regarding a .tel domain, the panel sided with Yahoo, awarding the tech company the domain. As previously mentioned, Yahoo could have saved itself a lot of grief by reserving the name during …

If you own a .ch (Switzerland) or .li (Lichtenstein) domain, watch out. SWITCH, the registry responsible for the two ccTLDs, has warned of a scam targeting registrants So far victims of the scam seem to all be businesses. Con artists will email or call a firm offering to sell it …

Deutsche Kreditbank has filed and won a dispute at the WIPO over the domain DKB.com. This is not surprising, however, considering the name’s owner never used the name, could not be reached, and did not respond to the filing. The arbitrator, John Swinson, decided that the name was being used …

Singapore Airlines has won a dispute filed at the WIPO. It involved ownership of the domain silverkris.com, which the company claimed was confusingly similar to its trademark, “SilverKris.” The registrants, Wilson Yang and Chuan Lee, argued that since the name is made up of two English words (a “kris” is …

Disney recently filed a complaint over the domain dealsdisney.info with the National Arbitration Forum. Arguing that the domain infringed on its trademark, the company won the case. But was it really worth the time and effort? Disney spent thousands of pounds in arbitration fees and employee time for a domain …

Internet giant Yahoo recently filed a complaint with the National Arbitration Forum, arguing that it has rights to Yahoo.tel. The domain was registered on March 23, 2009 by David Blanco of Oviedo, Spain. Yahoo will likely win the dispute. Given the company’s vast web presence and many trademarks, how can …

Two high-ranking Republicans from the House Judiciary Committee– Lamar Smith, R-TX, and Howard Coble, R-NC– sent a letter to new ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom this week expressing concern about the new gTLD system and the expiration of the JPA, slated to occur in less than two weeks. The two expressed …