Rest assured that if we, as .MUSIC are faced with the possibility of being gamed and abused in a manner that we find illegal, we will use our trademarks and other means necessary to do what we have to do to protect ourselves and our respective community.

People like Roussos think are they entitled to own a gTLD simply because they thought of it first. As far as I’m concerned, everyone should have an equal chance to operate any extension. If someone can do a better job of running .music than Roussos, let the guy have it.

Photo | Flickr

This dispute was more than likely filed by one of Paris Hilton’s legal representatives. This is a good thing, as the star has often been a subject of ridicule for her lack of intelligence. The name is owned by Troy Rushton, who registered it on March 31, 2010. I don’t think he has much of a case to defend his use of the name and the registrant will probably lose the dispute.

On a side note, Hilton was briefly detained at a Corsica airport this weekend for possession of cannabis.

Photo | Flickr

This isn’t the company’s first foray into the anti-cybersquatting world. It released an add-on for Internet Explorer in 2005 called Typo-Patrol that blocks domain typos.

According to Microsoft, some 40% to 70% of typo domains are parked with six top domain parking services. Going after thousands of domain owners to enforce a trademark is very difficult, but going after a handful of advertising companies isn’t. Some day, the domain parking services will likely feel Microsoft’s building wrath.

The .as ccTLD is used by American Samoa. Personally, I think the idea that this domain could hurt Qantas is absurd. While the name does spell the name of the airline, most Internet users still aren’t comfortable with including the extension as part of a spelled name. No one would confuse it for the real thing.

There is some question as to whether it violates the airline’s trademark or not, but since extensions usually aren’t considered part of the domain name, I don’t think Qant.as is in violation. Either way, the buyer got a horrible deal.

Source | The Domains
Photo | Flickr

First of all, Yahoo does not own the domain Y.com. In fact, no one does. The majority of .com names under three characters are reserved by the IANA and have been unavailable for registration since 1993. Perhaps Yahoo thinks the domain will some day become available?

Finally, even if Yahoo gets the trademark, that does mean the company will ever get the domain. The trademark only applies to search sites. If someone were to register it and develop another type of site unrelated to Yahoo, the use of the domain would be perfectly legal. Not to mention that in arbitration cases, panels do not consider the extension to be part of the trademark.

Photo | Flickr

Given the number of people who register a trademark without realizing it and then run into legal problems down the road, I think the feature is a great idea. Unfortunately, the site only checks against 1000 companies or so and their products. It also will detect trademark typos (such as Microsooft or Aple) and estimate the litigation risk of registering a possibly trademarked name.

Keep in mind that this tool is completely automated and not in the least comprehensive. If you plan on investing a good chunk of money in a domain or online business, you would be wise to speak with a trademark attorney for the best advice.

Source | Domain News

The registrants, Wilson Yang and Chuan Lee, argued that since the name is made up of two English words (a “kris” is a type of Indonesian dagger), it does not violate any trademark. “SilverKris” is the name of the airline’s frequent-flyer lounges.

Needless to say, the WIPO disagreed and awarded the name to Singapore Airlines. Yang and Lee never stood a chance.

Photo | Flickr

Disney spent thousands of pounds in arbitration fees and employee time for a domain that costs as little as 3 pounds per year to own. While there are certainly cases where it would make sense to gain control of a trademark-infringing domain– say if it were causing large financial losses or ruining the firm’s reputation– what good is dealsdisney.info going to do for Disney?

My guess is the domain was automatically registered by a bot and parked. Few, if anyone, probably ever visited it. The name was causing no financial loss to Disney. The company acquired it simply because it could.

Often times many instances of trademark infringement are not pursued because the cost of doing so is far greater than the benefits. In this case, it looks like Disney made a foolish decision. Companies do have to enforce their trademarks in order to maintain them, but my guess is no one would dispute Disney’s trademark if it turned a blind eye to a .info domain or two.

Unlike the Kraft domain dispute covered yesterday, this case is more clear-cut. Had the domain simply been nizoral.com J&J would have had a harder time proving its case, but since the product is known worldwide as a shampoo, the original registrant had barely a leg to stand on, hence the lack of a response in the case.

Source | Domain News

For six years, from 2003 to 2009, the companies exchanged emails, occasionally forwarding mail mistakenly sent to one or the other. They maintained a friendly relationship, both well aware of the other’s business. From time to time, Urban Logic Inc. would ask the other Urban Logic if he was willing to sell urbanlogic.com, an offer he repeatedly declined. In June of this year, and for reasons we may never truly know, Urban Logic Inc. filed a domain dispute with the WIPO.

Apparently the six-year friendship was over. They were out for blood, and the court case included bitter remarks from both sides. In the end, however, the WIPO was not impressed. Urban Logic Inc. did not have first claims on the name, nor did they even attempt to contest urbanlogic.com during the course of the six years in which they communicated with the respondent. The WIPO ruled that it was simply a bitter attempt at reverse domain name hijacking that cost Urban Logic, Peter Holland time and money.

Source: WIPO
Photo: Flickr