Typosquatting Held Illegal 165
Artagel writes: "The Federal Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (covering appeals from federal courts in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and the Virgin Islands) has whacked a cybersquatter for registering misspellings("typosquatting")of the Joe Cartoon homepage.
The Third Circuit is the place the ACLU brings suits when it wants to challenge federal laws regulating speech. It brought ACLU v. Reno case (first big internet free speech case) in the Third Circuit. I don't think that, in general, there is a friendlier forum for a free speech case, certainly not if the ACLU knows what it is doing. One more in the list of ways to get whacked on the internet. It is a precedent a lot of lower courts are likely to follow."
Tough ground for a libertarian (Score:2)
It's tough territory.
Yay, let's get that Norwegian Salte now! (Score:1)
Who cares if he's had the family name for centuries, he's trying to squat on MS's product!
That's BS (Score:1)
The fact that a court has ruled this ILLEGAL is inane. This makes no more sense than the battle Ford is waging against 2600 Magazine over www.fuckgeneralmotors.com.
Grow up, courts. -TK
Dammit! (Score:2)
Joecartoonsucks.com illegal? (Score:1)
heres a perfect example (Score:1)
Uhh (Score:4)
Couse though stuff like this just ends up allowing a company to smash down a parody site which is within the relm of fair use.....
www.lsahdot.org seems to be still free (Score:1)
What about parody (Score:4)
Who gets to decide what is a legit take-off, and what is an attempt to simply direct traffic to their own site?
This is... (Score:3)
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Put it this way... (Score:3)
It's akin to when you would pick up a CD that said in huge letters
HARRY BELAFONTE
CALYPSO SONGS
and on closer inspection you saw it really said
HARRY BELAFONTE
completely ignored these terrible
CALYPSO SONGS
(Kudos to MAD Magazine for that particular example.)
Typosquatting has about as much to do with free speech as the quack "American NutriMedical Association" (which gets a LOT of mileage out of being "mistaken" for the AMA) has to do with "freedom of medical choice."
Hm.. (Score:2)
Re:heres a perfect example (Score:1)
Domain Name Selling is a for profit business (Score:1)
Re:What about parody (Score:1)
From the judgement:
On November 29, 1999, the ACPA became law, making it illegal for a person to register or to use with the "bad faith" intent to profit from an Internet domain name that is "identical or confusingly similar" to the distinctive or famous trademark or Internet domain name of another person or company.
I don't think that parody is considered "bad faith" intent to profit.
Typosquatting and New.net (Score:2)
is this.....is this for REAL? [mikegallay.com]
Re:What about parody (Score:2)
uh oh! (Score:2)
homail.com
Re:What about parody (Score:2)
From the article:
Visitors were trapped or"mousetrapped" in the
sites, which, in the jargon of the computer world, means
that they were unable to exit without clicking on a
succession of advertisements. Zuccarini received between
ten and twenty-five cents from the advertisers for every
click.
Re:heres a perfect example (Score:1)
Yummy (Score:1)
PETA.com != PETA.org
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals != People Eating Tasty Animals
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Re:That's BS (Score:1)
Re:Hm.. (Score:1)
How close does it have to be, to be "typosquatting"- would microsloth be considered a typo, in extremis could 'sun' be a mis-spelling of 'microsoft'?
It's another of those slippery slope things - it's not like a speed limit, it's a judgement call like obscenity, which is why there are some many court cases.
And what about a misspelling which forms another comapny name - if I registered wibble.com would that mean I can stop another comapny from using wobble.com? If so why, if not, why not?
In my opinion the fat lady ain't singing yet.
----
What About Translation Squatting? (Score:2)
A sound decision (Score:5)
I say this because I believe the laws in the online world should be no different then those in the physical world. This is why I get so upset when courts do not transcribe the same regulations governing laws in place to the domain of the digital community. The rights of someone online are the same IMHO as those in the real world. Historically, the government has been more restrictive with online rights then those in the physical world, which is why I am happily a member of the EFF. But I digress.
When someone has a trademarked name, it is illegal in the real world to use a name that is extremely similar to the trademarked name, just as it is illegal to use the exact same name. The courts get really mad when people pick a similar name with the intent that people will confuse them with the legitimate trademark holder. In this case, the courts said that the person registering a typo name of an entity that has a legitimate claim is unfair, and I agree.
It is important to make sure that this isn't taken to the Nth degree, but I think that, within limits, the decision of the courts is reasonable. I remain hopeful that this means that people squatting on typo names will be forced to vacate. I know that I have mistyped names in the past, and I find it highly irritating to be exposed to content I had no intent to view.
In the conclusion, I think we should respect the courts in this case for protecting the rights of those online in the same way those rights are protected in the real world. If this rule were universally applied, I think we would better off, though I wouldn't mind if the online rules were a touch less restrictive, due to the nature of the public forum that the is the Internet.
Misrepresentation (Score:4)
Couldn't Resist... (Score:2)
Typos are bad, but ignorance is okay? (Score:2)
Re:What about parody (Score:5)
That's a distinction made by the courts. In this case, the "Joe Cartoon" typo sites consisted of a bunch of banner ads for various products. It was only a few hours after being served with a "cease-and-desist" that the owner of the typo sites changed them to a poorly written "political protest against Joe Cartoon". The judge saw through such a shallow ploy and issued some judicial smack-down against the defendant.
I really recommend reading the judgement (if you can get through the Slashdotting). It's a bit annoying in that they did a bad job converting it to ASCII (footnotes seem to be where each original page ended), but the language isn't particularly lawyerish and the judge clearly and concisely enumerates the legal standards that needed to be satisfied.
Re:Uhh (Score:1)
It's annoying because the second site (I want the first one) is very slow to load, even with a fast connection, and stopping the download freezes my entire workstation for a few seconds... Grrr.
Yoko 99
Abortion? (Score:1)
The only "intuitive" interface is the nipple. After that, it's all learned.
Typosquatting vs parody (Score:3)
On the other hand, parodies are pretty obvious. The content has everything to do with the name of the web site (i.e. www.f*ckedcompany.com sp?). To say that this case is about shutting doen parody sites is pretty shortsighted. That's just my 2 cents.
Re:That's BS (Score:2)
2600 then redirected to Ford as a joke. Ford slapped them with a lawsuit without any warning.
www.2600.com [2600.com] fights injustice in the Electronic Fronteir and routinely seems to challenge rights to privacy.
Go buy a t-shirt...
-TK
Near future: US Gov't sues typosquatting porn site (Score:2)
Fat Finger Syndrome (Score:1)
He, People who can not type (fat finger syndrome),
   deserve to click banners!
Re:Yay, let's get that Norwegian Salte now! (Score:1)
Vague Distinctions in the Ruling (Score:2)
[W]e conclude that "Joe Cartoon" is distinctive, and, with 700,000 hits a month, the web site "joecartoon.com" qualifies as being famous. Therefore, the trademark and domain name are protected under the ACPA.
It's distinctive perhaps, but does 700,000 hits/month qualify as being famous? And famous to what people? I view this as a weak link in the case because being famous is very relative and the application of the ACPA relies on this fame. For instance, I think The Onion or Slashdot is "famous", but considering virtually everyone where I work (a software company) has never heard of them, is that to say they aren't famous? I surely can't decide one way or the other.
The domain names --joescartoon.com, joecarton.com, joescartons.com, joescartoons.com and cartoonjoe.com -- closely resemble "joecartoon.com," with a few additional or deleted letters, or, in the last domain name, by rearranging the order of the words. To divert Internet traffic to his sites, Zuccarini admits that he registers domain names, including the five at issue here, because they are likely misspellings of famous marks or personal names. 4 The strong similarity between these domain names and joecartoon.com persuades us that they are "confusingly similar." Shields also produced evidence of Internet users who were actually confused by Zuccarini's sites.
Ok, here the ambiguity is obvious. They conclude that the domain names are "confusingly similar," which I agree with, but where can the line between "confusingly similar" and "not similar enough" be drawn? I have no real opinion on that answer, but the question definitely begs to be asked.
Just my random thoughts on this.
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If there were gods, how could I bear to be no god?
Re:Dammit! (Score:1)
--
What is a typo for what? (Score:2)
Just because slashdot.com was registered first, maybe there's been a company called slashdo for years, and just now created a website.
Hey, if you want to protect your brand name, register all the typos you can think of yourself, and stop bitching. If someone beat you to it, good for them.
MadCow.
Re:Domain Name Selling is a for profit business (Score:1)
Nah. Couldn't be.
Re:What about parody (Score:4)
The court went stated that you could not use trademark or copyright to silence critism or satire. It also discussed the Cat In the Hat/OJ parody.
Re:Vague Distinctions in the Ruling (Score:2)
here is where the ambiguity disappears. If you say you did it to get diverted traffic, then you have already drawn the line for the court.
Don't underestimate the AOLer... (Score:5)
Even scarier, said person [gogeek.org] appeared to be using a military (Air Force) account...
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This is insane. (Score:5)
If someone mistypes an URL, that's their problem. As long as the page itself doesn't misrepresent itself, then all URLs are fair game. When I register a domain name, I'm not registering all the domain names with slightly different spellings.. am I? If I own "domain.net" can I sue "domain.com" for typosquatting?
W
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Re:What about parody (Score:1)
who decides if it is murder or self-defense?
who decides if it is stealing or borrowing?
who decides whether cigarette ads are deception or just ordinary propaganda?
who decides if microsoft is abusing it's power as a monopoly or just trying to stay competitive in the marketplace?
there are decisions like this being made in the courts all the time. in every one of its cases the supreme court decides if a particular act qualifies as a freedom or if it should be punished as a felony.
Re:This is... (Score:1)
Yep, I was right. I went to read the article. Multiple names _sounding_ just like the mark and two with merely an added 's' constitute the squatting. And the squatting was very obvious and poorly done - he mousetrapped visiting users forcing them to click multiple banner ads. In this case it's pretty obvious there was bad faith. The court applied the relevent law in a very specific manner and did not create any significant precedent as the story poster so wanted to get us all worried about.
joescartoon.com, joecarton.com, joescartons.com, joescartoons.com and cartoonjoe.com
Not all Words are Speech (Score:2)
Nevertheless, I must object to anyone who frames this case a free speech issue. Just because an action requires the use of words does not make it speech.
I would fervently defend anyone who used the domain name microsoftsucks.com because they are using the domain name to make a point. That is speech and should be free.
On the other hand, I would not defend a person who registered microsotf.com and used it to pitch ads. Such a person is not using the domain name to express themselves but rather to make a quick buck from the misfortunes of bad typists. That does not constitute speech and should not be framed as a free speech issue.
That said, I do not have an opinion as to whether such actions should be legal, but they certainly should not be protected by the First Amendment.
On the other hand, the guy in this article did something else that I consider a mortal sin: mouse trapping.
I swear they don't come any more liberal than I, but if I had my way there would be a law requiring any business or individual, who uses mouse trapping and pop-up windows, to be banned from the internet forever.
Can you imagine walking into a brick and mortar store and deciding that you did not like the products. You turn to walk out the door and are physically restrained and required to browse the store once more just in case there actually was something you liked. Then when you finally make it out the front door you realize that it is just a worm hole to the back door and you just can't seem to get out!
Re:Domain Name Selling is a for profit business (Score:1)
What happens to slsahdot.org? (Score:2)
Personally, I kinda like the site... It's funny to see how many other people typed slashdot.org wrong that day.
Where's Thomas Jefferson when you need him? (Score:1)
Re:Put it this way... (Score:2)
hank williams jr sings the songs of
HANK WILLIAMS
...which actually happened and, legally speaking, flew just fine (probably because Hank Sr was dead at the time). (Incidentally, I just can't call Hank Williams Jr 'Junior' anymore.)
Or maybe:
GET A VISA CARD FROM BIGBANK AT 1%* INTEREST!
(insert a page of advertising drivel)
*onlyforthefirsttwodays
...which I get in my mailbox every week.
Defamation, slander, copyright violation, theft of services, misapropriation of trademark, and the like are already crimes. Taking advantage of people who can't spell (and obviously can't bookmark either) isn't.
Note: I'm not taking a side on whether it's "right".
The real Threed's
--Threed
Re:This is insane. (Score:1)
Re:Abortion? (Score:1)
ISTR that there is in fact a pro-life faction within the Libertarian Party, but they have never been numerous enough to get a pro-life plank into the party's official platform.
Re:Typos are bad, but ignorance is okay? (Score:1)
Re:What about parody (Score:1)
Typo Squatting Has Gotten Out of Hand (Score:1)
Re:Abortion? (Score:1)
Re:Premier post (Score:1)
What about goddamn no-exit credit card sleazeballs (Score:1)
But if you registered 3000 domain names, including 5 variations on "slashdot", 10 variations on "freshmeat", 3 variations on "userfriendly", et cetera, and all of your domains had lots of credit card ads with 10 pop-windows on exit, and basically all you did with all your domain names is run sites like that ... you aren't commenting on slashdot, you aren't providing any value to anybody.
Read the decision and see what the guy was actually doing.
Not just limited to the online world (Score:2)
I can breathe a sigh of relief (Score:1)
How can you defend this and then back 2600? (Score:1)
the devil's in the details (Score:3)
So the big deal is not this case, typo squatting for porn is something we'd all be better off without. Rather it's the consequences that you alude to regarding parody, and a dozen other cases that could be dreamt of once the precedent was set.
Good example (Score:1)
What is "Joe Cartoon"? (Score:2)
Re:What you get if you abuse your rights. (Score:2)
Bullshit. I'm free to say whatever I want. I don't need your permission ("privilige" aka "license") to talk.
Does the government create people, or do people create the government?
If people create the government, then the sovereign people ALREADY HAVE those right(s) (to free speech, to travel, etc.)
i.e.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; [emory.edu]
Second Thought (Score:1)
What constitutes a typo ( 1,2,3,4 letters?, arranged together?, etc)?
What about freedom of speach or parody?
I think this is a idea that in its basic sense is appealing, but in its thought out implications is damning.
Hmmm what about alphine? (Score:1)
is well known that alphine produced car audio amps using the name to confuse people looking for alpine equipment.
This kind of stuff has been going on for as long as there have been companies. It has been fine and legal until now!
how does the internet change it? The whole point of this is to attempt to procure some one else's customers.
alpine --> alphine (Car Audio)
camel --> Kamel (Smokes)
Kool --> Cool (Smokes)
Then Again I am left wondering who has the right to www.oreilly.com.... Oreilly auto parts or oreilly publishing. The
same with www.apple.com.. Apple computers or apple records..
The government and in some cases the people have overstepped there bounds. Everyone is looking for laws to fix the
problem and the solution is not more laws. It is simply applying the existing laws to the new medium.
anagrams? (Score:1)
Re:This is insane. (Score:2)
W
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salshdot.org (Score:1)
Re:Vague Distinctions in the Ruling (Score:1)
These are basic elements of trademark law.
This is elaborated on in section 43(c)(1) of the Lanham Act:
Likelihood of confusion takes up a good chunk of my trademarks casebook. Most trademark cases use survey evidence to show that consumers are actually confused. In the absence of evidence of actual confusion, the courts draw the line to fit the equities of the case. That, after all, is their job.
Re:anagrams? (Score:2)
No (at least, not under the law). Anagrams aren't all confusingly similar: cgiprob.com isn't going to be mistaken for bigcorp.com. If there's no association with the mark, there's no infringement.
Re:Yummy (Score:1)
What constitutes typos? (Score:1)
Re:Hmmm what about alphine? (Score:1)
Other ripoffs? (Score:3)
An example in point is the Darwin Awards. There is the Original Darwin Awards [officialdarwinawards.com], done by a college student. This is the one that got the original fame. Then there is the copy cat Darwin Awards [darwinawards.com] site who was better financed, and grabbed the URL first. So the college student sort of got plowed under.
Guess where my sympathy lies.
Check out the Vinny the Vampire [eplugz.com] comic strip
Re:How can you defend this and then back 2600? (Score:1)
Not obvious at all (Score:1)
If www.micrsoft.com is illegal, then what about www.moneysoft.com or www.borgcentral.com www.ms.com etc...- whereas one might be blatant moneying of a company's brand equity, another might truly be free speech regarding the nature of that company. What constitutes a typo anyways? Many companies dont have english names: what about www.4com.com(as opposed to www.3com.com)? or www.it-aint-cool.com (as opposed to www.aint-it-cool.com)?
I truly wish our legislative body would be more cautious in setting precendents with so many possible negative repercusions down the road.
In fact, on another topic, it is a good subject of debate as to whether law as we know it is a flexible enough platform to carry society stabily over the next few hundred years. I begin with the assertion that since laws generally only grow in complexity and restritiveness, that there is a point in the future where it will be impossible for anyone to comply with the letter of any law and be effective. Feel free to comment.
Re:Not just limited to the online world (Score:1)
Hold on just a minute... (Score:2)
Ohhh, I don't think so. I think the person with a real site who wants to catch the people who accidentally get the spelling wrong (but who intend to go to his/her site anyways) is the one who has something to say. The guy who is just sitting on a domain with a single static "Under Construction...buy our domain!" site does not, however, and could even be considered the real source of the problem. I love the ACLU, even though they can be annoying, but I wish they would realize once in a while that it's not necessarily the heavyweights in life who interfere with the rights of others.
Lots of law on the subject . . . (Score:3)
There was a sixth circuit case involving the use of 1-800-H-zero-LIDAY and 1-800-HOL-one-DAY for hotel reservations, when the customer was immediately notified that this was a budget, low-end reservation facility unrelated to HOLIDAY INNS. The sixth circuit held in that case that Holiday Inn lost.
I haven't read the Third Circuit opinion, but it will be interesting to contrast the two results.
Slashdot squatters... (Score:1)
Re:Yummy (Score:1)
Yes, but PETA.com != www.mtd.com/tasty just isn't the same.
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Re:Abortion? (Score:1)
Re:Abortion? (Score:1)
The only "intuitive" interface is the nipple. After that, it's all learned.
Re:Where's Thomas Jefferson when you need him? (Score:1)
But they do. It's just that the anarcho-libertarian crowd has a short-sighted view of "monetary or physical damage" (at least when it's someone else's).
Typo sites cause monetary damage to the trademark holders because they take away hits. They cause monetary damage to the consumers whose time and resources are wasted. They cause monetary damage to society because they increase the transaction costs required to create informed consumers.
What about 1-800-OPERATER? (Score:2)
Re:Hm.. (Score:2)
Exactly....
What if Cardinal Secola moves up in the ranks of the Catholic church and eventually becomes Pope. Would Pepsi sue him for his PopeSecola.com web site?
Once again - they know solution to trademarks (Score:2)
I set up WIPO.org.uk after I heard about domains being unjustly taken. In one case, a little girl's dad got Veronica.org for her, Archie Comics decided they wanted to grab it. Veronica is a character in that comic, so they did not want the little girl to use her own name.
World Intellectual Piracy Organization - Comments on WIPO Interim Report (12 April 2001)
The reader will judge for themselves, decide if the beliefs enclosed in this response and on WIPO.org.uk [wipo.org.uk] are truth or hot air. You are welcome to try disproving these logical findings. The USPTO and DoC could not.
Please concentrate on the points raised - not the poor writing style. Do not be diverted from these points.
This addresses that which the authorities hide - the solution to trademark and domain name problems.
The authorities and legal profession do not to want it solved, for reasons of money and power - which is why I email interested parties.
The Internet is so important for many things - including people getting their voice heard. This Interim Report is for another small-minded, control-freakery, anti-libertarian policy, designed (amongst other reasons below) to stop free speech.
Trademarks have ® symbol placed after them for a reason. Why then, do they not use new TLD of .REG for this?
® symbol is warning, to advise the public that the mark is federally registered and their use provides legal benefits - http://www.inta.org/basics/tmfaq.shtml#faq6 [inta.org]
What about trademarks 'raison d'être'? - Do you know what it is?
They are to identify source - NOT to claim world rights to a word or words.
To use Attorneys words, "The basic tenet of trademark law is to protect consumers and trademark owners from confusion in the marketplace".
Most of the current problems are due to the authorities perverted and twisted sense of protectionism towards big business trademarks.
Most trademarks share its name or initials with many others. When authorities could put trademark identity beyond shadow of doubt, they are either devoid of intelligence or corrupt.
What other reason is there?
Brief comment on some of WIPO replies received:
Some give sycophantic congratulations on your success - do they mean success of:
a) Usurping domain from the original legal owner?
b) Giving one trademark holder dominance, over others with the same name?
Proprietary - Belonging to a proprietor. Proprietor - An owner; one who has legal right to anything. So, how can you legally stop anybody using these [Non proprietary] words?
Geographical - "Barcelona.com" etc. The DNS is like a giant library index system. Do they claim I.P. rights and royalties from books written about these places? They will be claiming I.P. rights on maps next.
IGOs - Protection will only censor public criticism and allow them to abuse power.
Personal Names - It is not justice that any one person has sole right to use of a name. Out of principle, the reason I did not take GarryAnderson.com. My name is as important to me, as yours is to you. I RECOGNISE that others may have the same name as me - and that others may wish to make critical comment. There is solution to the famous having own domain name.
Trade Names - More of the same. Abuse of power - when you know the answer. .uk Internet Domain Names. The Dispute Resolution
Service went under review [www.nic.uk].
Main arguments are best summarized in my response to Nominet UK [www.nic.uk]. They are Registry for
Sent 30 March 2001 to Nominet UK:
Garry Anderson
World Intellectual Piracy Organization (WIPO.org.uk)
Response to Review of Dispute Resolution Service
The WIPO represents just plain common sense and logical intelligence on topic of Internet management. Ability further demonstrated on other subjects at skilful.com (though you may not like what I say there) [skilful is proper English spelling ;-) mentioned so that critics could not pass
me off as somebody of low intelligence (tried before)]. The following
is considered and informed opinion - after looking at all the facts. See
if you agree with me.
WIPO is defending the rights of domain owners worldwide. So obviously - not the same WIPO that is part of UN just looking after big business (coincidentally paid by them). Though they are certainly biased, I would not accuse them of being corrupt (with only circumstantial evidence).
This solution has been put to the United States Patent and Trademark Office and Department of Commerce - during discussions neither could deny my assertions. It was common sense that the authorities already must have known the simple logical answer.
First, I wish to make comment on the response from IP Litigation Group [www.nic.uk] - Field Fisher Waterhouse, supporting ICANN's UDRP. There is so much I wish to say, but will cut it very short.
To quote them, "As to the inconsistency of decisions being handed down under the UDRP, it is still early days and, as more decisions are made and precedents are adopted, the decision-making will become more uniform."
Saying [and read in context], "...we believe that trade mark protection is of paramount importance", they unashamedly admit their decisions are biased. This is nothing more than a confession they are becoming more uniformly prejudiced.
A fact for you: domain names are not trademarks - ask Paul Mockapetris, creator of Domain Name System.
However, as authorities know, domain names could be made compatible with trademarks.
ICANN's UDRP has shown this Dispute Resolution process is totally unworkable and unjust.
Though the authorities SAY they have good ideals - to protect trademarks on the Internet - this is a barefaced LIE. Only those unable to progress ideas through to conclusion would believe them.
They only give certain trademarks an illegal dominant position and create a 'cash cow' for their friends in the legal profession. This is demonstrably true and was the obvious intention. Those in pocket of big business would say otherwise.
Most businesses fail to realise, their domain could be victim of reverse hijacking by bigger business, at any time in the future. They will never be safe, even after investing ALL into their business - the most important part of their business, their identity, could be stolen from them.
The only solution is to have restricted TLDs. For example, Nissan cars tried to take nissan.com from Mr Nissan - it makes sense to reserve .car
TLD for carmakers - they can then use nissan.car. It has to be on a 'first
come - first served' basis.
There is one main cause for all these problems. The authorities are deliberately managing the system so that domain names are not compatible to trademarks. They do so for reasons based on money and power, without any sense of Justice. To explain:
Nearly ALL trademarks share a common word(s) with many others - even in same country. For example, in the dispute case of etoy and eToys (e prefix for Internet) - 1,685 trademarks share common word "toy" in USA alone [879 live]. There are tens of thousands of them in 200 other countries. Logical, therefore, that ALL cannot use slight variations on this common word (as domain name) - else it would "infringe" upon others and cause "consumer confusion".
Those with a brain can see, nearly all domain names "infringe" upon others and cause "consumer confusion" - it is just bull* excuse.
Making it worse still - they let only one of these businesses use this common word - so ALL the others cannot. This is against "unfair competition" laws. BUT, what makes it really bad - the authorities know the answer to avoid this and are allowing businesses to break this law.
It gets even worse (is this possible?). Though the naming system is not just for trademarks, authorities are taking these common words from the legal owners. These people had the intelligence to buy these common words first. The authorities and big business are stealing the "Intellectual Property" of these individuals.
As shown, most trademarks cannot have their name - so nearly ALL visitors are going to arrive at the wrong location and ALL get "confused" anyway. So "consumer confusion" and "infringement" are just excuse, obvious lies, used to take away the domain from legal owner. These are problems inherent in the system - entirely the fault of authorities.
All these cases, in the courts and before WIPO, are based on lies and propaganda. I am amazed so many intelligent people have been taken in. [Obviously, some hide the lie - for self interest].
Something to note. They all do not want it solved; you will only see objections from them. Even the 'good guys' (defending the little guy) are making a lot of money from these disputes. Their arrogant refusal to publicly recognize mandatory requirements is contemptible.
Mandatory Requirements:
1 Trademark Name .REG
2 Classification
3 Country
4 Identifier - suggest Top Level Domain of
The format for customer to identify source (the reason for trademarks): name.class.country.reg
This acts as certificate of authentication and directory - if you can use the telephone, then you can use dot REG. Small businesses need not go broke buying hundreds of domains, trying to protect every slight variation of trademark in every TLD [trademark tax].
If business wants to use Name.com for advertising and marketing purposes on the Internet - this is legal usage. To use it as currently used (to dominate over other trademarks), is illegal usage. It requires class, country and identifier - i.e. Apple Computers could use apple.tech.us.reg for trademark identity - using apple.com for marketing.
It is logical, that they all are issued with a domain name with each trademark - in format name.class.country.reg - the same as trademark rights issued.
There need be no restrictions put on a company whatsoever - they can use any number of .com/.biz etc. domains - for advertising and marketing
purposes.
There are laws in place should Mr Nissan try to pass himself off as Nissan Cars on his nissan.com. Big business is using Dispute Resolution to dominate this word space. Anyway, the consumer knows it is not the car people - if they are not redirected to nissan.car.uk.reg.
There are laws in place for libel should anyone make such unlawful remarks on any of these sites. They object to any criticism and are using Dispute Resolution to abridge the freedom of speech.
It is nothing complicated. Guardians of the Internet with all your so-called experts, if you still do not understand, contact garry@wipo.org.uk - I will draw you a picture. However, you knew all this already - or are you admitting to gross incompetence?
The main reasons they want Dispute Resolution to go on:
1 Big business gets more power abusing their trademark.
2 Guardians of the Internet get more importance.
3 Lawyers and trademark protection companies get rich.
4 Domain registration companies get rich from trademarks protecting mark.
5 Small businesses go broke with big business taking identity - less competition for them.
6 They muffle criticism of them - abridging the freedom of speech.
7 Kids (and grown-ups) are stopped from making fan sites.
In conclusion, to reiterate - domain names are not trademarks. Millions of TLD are possible. I call for Nominet UK to put pressure on ICANN, first for the introduction of .REG to stop most of these problems.
From there, new restricted TLDs to stop other disputes, examples .CAR
and .ACTOR - it is just plain common sense.
Re:the devil's in the details (Score:3)
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, but we don't have to mistrust everything.
Holiday Inn is a unique situation (Score:2)
I worked for Bass Hotels HI guest relations, and this was a training issue: "I booked a reservation at your Niagara Location..."
Re:What you get if you abuse your rights. (Score:2)
Those examples you listed are NOT examples of free speech.
The difference in these cases is that you are on someone else's *property*. They are free to make whatever rules they want.
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:www.fatalbli
Bringing this back on topic: No one *owns* the internet, so the court ruling that typosquatting is illegal, is like saying that the government has the exclusive rights and jurisdiction to domain names (e.g. you are on their property.) which they allow others to use. That's complete nonsense.
> Heck, the airport checkpoint itself is a limitation on interstate commerce.
Now, that is certainly interesting. Have any links where I can read up more on that?
Cheers
This is about trademark law, (Score:2)
New.net is a stupid idea anyway. It circumvents the whole way DNS works, and the only time I almost installed it was when some gay app tried to install it without telling me.
$1 Million per year ??! (Score:2)
Does anybody else read this and feel like they've been hit about the head with a large gold brick ? (and not even a slice of lemon...)
Re:What about parody (Score:2)
But as cases like this become decided, those who have less then nobel goals will ride that line far closer.
What if, for example, they developed a well constructed critique of Joe Cartoon before going live, which sat along side the banner ads and pop-ups. Our best guess is the intent would still have been to profit off the mispelling.
But the owner of the rogue sites could just as easily say the intent was to provide commentary or satire, and simply added the advertisments just as many other commerical websites use agressive advertising to cover expenses. Using advertisments to suppliment the cost of content in and of itself is not illegal.
I see us reaching a very fine line between nefarious misuse of typo squatting and legitiment free speech. How are we going to end up deciding if a site's advertisments are secondary to it's content, or the otherway around. The law's only recourse is to employ common sense on a case by case basis . . . but how often does that happen?
Re:What constitutes typos? (Score:2)
I think you are probably brighter than that. There is no reason to use those names except to make an semi inside joke, so why would someone running a legitamate site risk getting everyone who types "pepsi cola" into Google showing up on his site and getting confused. There is no reason for it to be "protected" except to give you one chance to shange the names and say "sorry".
Have we reached the point where silly jokes having nothing to do with your site, their site or anything else HAVE to be protected? I know satire is protected, but I have my doubts on throwaway puns.
Kahuna Burger
Most fun part of the report (Score:2)
Zuccarini did not respond to the letters. Immediately after Shields filed this suit, Zuccarini changed thefive sites to "political protest" pages and posted the following message on them:
This is a page of POLITICAL PROTEST
- Against the web site joecartoon.com - joecartoon.com is a web site that depicts the mutilation and killing of animals in a shockwave based cartoon format -- many children are inticed [sic] to the web site, not knowing what is really there and then encouraged to join in the mutilation and killing through use of the shockwave cartoon pr esented to them.
- Against the domain name policys [sic] of ICANN -
- Against the Cyberpiracy Consumer Protection Act -
As the owner of this domain name, I am being sued by joecartoon.com for $100,000 so he can use this domain to direct more kids to a web site that not only desensitizes children to killing animals, but makes it seem like great fun and games.
I will under no circumstances hand this domain name over to him so he can do that.
I hope that ICANN and Network Solutions will not assist him to attaining this goal.
-Thank You-
Goddamn right ! Protect our children ! Once, a teenage gerbil boy will enter a gerbil high school with a bag full of microwave ovens, and start microwaving gerbils randomly. close joecartoon.com !
Re:What about parody (Score:2)
Well, to a degree, I think this issue has already been played out in non-computer-related court cases. For example, with Luther Campbell's parody of Roy Orbison's classic "Pretty Woman", you had a court ruling that even though the parody was used commercially, that didn't automatically negate the parody/fair-use provisions of the appropriate copyright law [Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, 510 U.S. 569 (1994)]. Admittedly, that's relating to copyright instead of trademark (which is what typosquatting would most likely be).
However, in the parts of the anti-typosquatting statue mentioned in the judgement, they specificially refer to a "bad faith" intent to profit. Within the criteria for "bad faith", the include (as one of the 9 or so factors of consideration) "(IV) the person's bona fide noncommercial or fair use of the mark in a site accessible under the domain name".
What all this means, I have absolutely no clue. I think the best bet, if you were considering running a parody site, would be to ask a lawyer. But there's at least enough fuzziness there that I wouldn't lose sleep over the issue.
Re:Lots of law on the subject . . . (Score:2)
Perhaps because "OPERATOR" for operators is generic?