CooperMills

Posts Tagged ‘domain law’

The issue of domain name wildcarding became a hot issue in 2006, after auDA deleted 19 domain names from a Registrant because they were wildcarded. This matter ended up in the Federal Court of Australia and was fought out, until the parties resolved the matter shortly before trial.

This Court battle caused auDA to develop an interim policy on wildcarding in 2007, which was to have been reviewed  but almost 3 years on and nothing has happened – so it remains an interim policy. Our enquiries of auDA revealed that they did intend to have their security and stability advisory committee (SSAC) look at the issue soon (that was in 2009) – it is interesting to note that at the time the interim policy was announced the SSAC didn’t have any members!

In order to understand wildcarding one must understand what it means. The auDA policy defines it as:

A “wildcard DNS record” is a record in a DNS file that will match all requests for non-existent domain names, so that a user who types a non-existent domain name into their browser does not get the standard “Error 404” message, but is instead redirected to another webpage.

The auDA definition is a little misleading. Firstly a wildcard record matches all requests for fourth level domains as opposed to ‘non-existent domain names‘. For example a domain coopermills.com.au exists, but if it were wildcarded then anything that was typed before coopermills.com.au with a full stop would resolve to (usually) a web page hosted at the third level domain. If an internet user was to type cars.coopermills.com.au, then it may resolve to www.coopermills.com.au. The effect of this is to in essence allow any fourth level domain, as opposed to manually creating them.

Wildcarding is commonly used by almost all parking companies such as Sedo. The rational is that it is better that an internet user is directed to content rather than an error – this enhances the internet user experience.

auDA had claimed that wildcarding caused the security issues identified in RFC 1535. The Registrant called the author of RFC 1535 Ehud Gavron to give evidence as an expert at the trial, who disagreed. During Mr Gavron’s visit (and after the matter had been resolved by the parties), Cooper Mills Lawyers hosted Mr Gavron who spoke on wildcarding of domain names in the .au context.

To download the podcast click on the link: Domain Wildcarding: The Implications for the .au Space

Tags: Cooper Mills Lawyers, domain law, domain lawyers, domain name law, domain name lawyers, domain wildcarding
Posted in Domain law and domaining, Podcasts | No Comments »

To all of our clients and visitors to our blog, we wish you seasons greetings and a safe and prosperous new year.

Thank you for your support in 2009, and we look forward to working with you in 2010.

Our office will be re-open on 11 January 2010.

Stay tuned for our new IT Law, Telecommunications Law, Domain Law and general Commercial Law articles / posts.

Tags: Commercial Law, domain law, domain name law, IT Law, telecommunications law
Posted in Domain law and domaining, General, ISP and Telco Law, IT Law, Podcasts, Privacy, Spam, Trade Practices Law, Uncategorized | No Comments »

We are working on bringing you some more new and interesting IT Law and Domain Law posts and articles shortly.

To assist us to cater to our audience, if you have any specific requests for IT Law, Domain Law or Telecommunications Law articles or information, feel free to drop us a note at info@coopermills.com.au

Tags: domain law, domain lawyer, IT Law, IT Lawyer, telecommunications law, Telecommunications Lawyers
Posted in Domain law and domaining, General, ISP and Telco Law, IT Law, Podcasts, Privacy, Spam, Trade Practices Law, Uncategorized | No Comments »

After an 11 year process, ICANN has signed a historic agreement with the US Department of Commerce, which affirms its role as the supreme manager of the global domain name system.

In 1998 ICANN was set up by the US Government under the oversight of the US Government. Although sometimes controversial and subject to debate, ICANN has managed to successfully guide the global domain name system. ICANN’s most recent meeting was held in Sydney, and was attended by industry participants including Cooper Mills Lawyers.

According to ICANN:

When ICANN was created in 1998, with the assistance of the United States Government, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) process was started with the objective of achieving a noble goal: the coordination of the Internet’s unique identifiers by the private sector through a not-for-profit organization where policies were developed from the bottom up.

The signing of the Affirmation determines once and for all that this model works.

The JPA was the seventh amendment of the original MOU.  Over the years there have been thirteen report cards on performance of responsibilities to the US Department of Commerce alone.  So why is the Affirmation of Commitments a further step in progress and internationalization of the ICANN model?

It commits ICANN to remaining a private not for profit organization. It declares ICANN is independent and is not controlled by any one entity. It commits ICANN to reviews performed BY THE COMMUNITY – a further recognition that the multi-stakeholder model is robust enough to review itself.

The full text of the Affirmation between ICANN and the US Department of Commerce is available here.

Whilst this is a historic step it is not likely to affect business as usual at ICANN. This Agreement comes at an important time with the introduction of IPV6 and new TLDs among, the host of other challenges facing ICANN.

Tags: domain law, domain lawyers, domain name law, domain name lawyers, domain name regulation, ICANN
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The US Federal Court has awarded USD$33 million to Verizon Communications Inc, as a result of OnlineNIC registering and monetising domain names which were found to have infringed trademarks belonging to Verizon.

The Court found OnlineNIC to have registered numerous domain names in bad faith, in an attempt to mislead and take advantage of potential Verizon customers.  The Court concluded that OnlineNIC’s behavour was in “blatant and wilful violation” of the US Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, by registering approximately 663 domain names that infringed 26 Verizon trademarks.

Among the 663 domain names registered in bad faith by OnlineINC were www.verizononline.com, www.verizonwireless.com and www.verizonphoneservices.com. The Court awarded the costs and damages at USD$50,000.00 per domain name registered by OnlineINC, which was “confusingly similar” or identical to Verizon trademarks.

Vice president and associate general counsel for Verizon, Sarah Deutsch said:

“We hope the Court’s decision goes a long way toward protecting consumers from becoming targets of Internet abuses and frauds”.

The judgment is not likely to have any serious impact on the .au space, and proceedings brought against domain name owners for trademark breaches.

Tags: domain law, domain lawyer, domaining, Verizon
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ICANN has just announced that since changes implemented in June 2008, Domain Tasting has dropped a massive 99.7%, which effectively spells the end of the practice.

Domain Tasting, is the practice of registering domains to identify their potential to attract visitors and typically revenue from online ads, and cancelling the registration within 5 days to avoid paying the fees if the domains did not attract visitors / revenue within this period – this was in effect a ‘try before you buy’.

ICANN says (in reference to their solution to this problem):

The solution in brief means that if a company registers and then returns more than a certain number or percentage of domains each month, they are charged for each additional registration above that amount. The result is that domain tasting becomes increasingly expensive the more a company engages in the practice for what may be speculative reasons.

The announcement by ICANN comes after the release of its report: The End of Domain Tasting – Status Report on AGP Measures.

The issue of domain tasting is not one that we have experienced in Australia.

Tags: domain law, domain lawyer, domain name law, ICANN, IT Lawyer
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Yesterday we received notification from auDA (the .au Domain Name Regulator) that they had instigated a review into the Domain Renewal Expiry and Deletion Policy.

According to auDA the review will focus on:

• 1. Whether the current 30 day pending delete period for expired domain names (ie. where the registrant has not renewed their domain name) is appropriate.
  2. Whether the current “domain purge” procedure (ie. where domain names are purged from the registry at a random time between 10.30am and 5.00pm AEST on the next business day after the pending delete period ends) is effective.
  3. What action (if any) auDA should take in relation to unofficial domain drop lists, and the domain-catching services being provided by some accredited registrars and other industry participants.

At the risk of sounding pessimistic, auDA may be using this review as a cover to stifle innovation by putting a stop to, or restricting domain drop lists and auctions. auDA needs to carefully consider these issues, the .au name space is already over regulated by world standards, the last thing we need is more regulation.

We have been asked to make a submission on behalf of Australian domainers – without speculating on what our submissions will say, it is clear that there is great support for the drop lists and auctions.

If you are a domainer and you would like to make submissions, we encourage you to contact us so that we can combine your comments / views with our broader submissions to this review.

Tags: auDA, domain law, domain lawyers, domain name law, domain name lawyers
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A United States man has been charged in what is thought to be one of the world’s first cases where a suspected domain name thief has been prosecuted.

The accused allegedly hacked into an online account belonging to one of the owners of the popular P2P.com domain name. He then purportedly moved ownership of the domain to himself and then resold it via eBay.

The man was charged with felony charges of unlawful taking or deception, identify theft and computer theft. Each of the three counts carries a maximum sentence in the United States of 10 years in prison.

A civil suit by one of the legitimate owners of P2P.com is also pending. The owner claims he has spent 30 months and US$500,000 trying to reclaim the domain name. The civil suit is filed against the alleged thief, the group that runs the on-line account system that was hacked and the person who bought the domain name, Mar Madsen. Mr Madsen did not know P2P was stolen when he bought it for US$111,000. He still retains the domain name today.

The case has further raised concerns about specific laws protecting domain name owners and the industry’s failure to provide domain name owners with deeds.

Tags: domain law, domain lawyer, domain name law, domain name lawyer, IT Law
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Following the conclusion of the most recent ICANN meeting held in Sydney, Rod Beckstrom was announced as the new ICANN CEO, replacing Paul Twomey.

“Beckstrom is the former Director of the U.S. National Cybersecurity Center (NCSC), where he formed an effective working group of leaders from the nation’s top six cybersecurity centers spanning the civilian, military and intelligence communities.”

In addition to his formal military / intelligence rolls, Beckstrom has also been active in the not for profit sector, as a board member of trustees of the Environmental Defense Fund and the Jamii Bora Trust, a micro-lending group based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Beckstrom takes the helm at a time when ICANN is in the process of rolling out one its biggest projects yet, the introduction of new GTLDs.

Tags: domain law, domain names, ICANN, Rod Beckstrom
Posted in Domain law and domaining | No Comments »

We were recently riding a tram in Melbourne when we noticed a Tourism Australia campaign entitled No Leave No Life.

Being domain lawyers, the first thing that stood out to us was the very prominent use of the of the domain name noleavenolife.com. This got us thinking, why don’ t Tourism Australia, or other many Australian businesses use the a .au domain name. One simple explanation is that one wasn’t available, but we suspect the issue is a little deeper than first thought. In our view it is one of publicity and awareness, or a lack of it.

We regularly see promotions and campaigns which use a GTLD such as .com, but what is peculiar about this new Tourism Australia campaign is that it is targeted at an internal audience (yes Australian employees and employers), yet a .com is used. Is this because of a lack of awareness ? We think that this may be the answer in many situations (although not all). The .au space does not receive enough promotion. This is more evident in light of the impending launch of new GTLD’s discussed at ICANN’s meeting in Sydney last week, where we attended with some fanfare the ‘launch for a bid’ for the .food GTLD by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puch.

For Domainers one of the most telling signs of a lack of demand in the .au domain space, are the relatively low sale prices for what would otherwise be premium domains in most other GTLDs. One only has to look at www.netfleet.com.au to see what the market is valuing names at.

We don’t recall any recent campaigns to promote the .au name space, yet that is what is needed. For example .Asia has been heavily promoted in movies and music, maybe this is what the .au space needs.

Although, the public expect that auDA has a responsibility promote the .au space, auDA’s constitution does not make specific reference to the marketing and promotion of the .au domain space. To auDA’s credit they have in the past advertised in the press and given away base ball caps, something more needs to be done so that Australian domain owners can get the full benefit of their domain space. Maybe they could start by writing to Tourism Australia.

PS. auDA may want to check out the .nz Domain Commission, whose most recent “.nz is our home” campaign is doing precisely what the .au space needs a large scale awareness program!

Tags: .au Domain Law, .au Domaining, domain law, domain lawyers, domain name lawyers, domainer, domaining
Posted in Domain law and domaining, General | No Comments »