CooperMills

Posts Tagged ‘domain names’

In a sign that the .au domain name market is hotting up investmentproperty.com.au today sold for $125,001 (plus GST) to Mad Cat Pty Ltd, which appears to be the operator of Hunter Valley property development company Vision Homes.

In spirited bidding, initial bids last night were less than $2000. The price  quickly shot up today on the two leading aftermarket domain catching services, fetching $125,001 on Netfleet and $110,001 on Drop.com.au

No doubt the registrant who let the name expire, INVESTMENT PROPERTY SOLUTIONS PTY LIMITED, would have kicked themselves at losing such a valuable domain name.

Cooper Mills Director and Domain Lawyer, Erhan Karabardak said:

These types of record results are pleasing for the domain name industry, and show that business is understanding the critical importance of a good domain name in the success of online ventures.

Tags: domain lawyer, domain name law, domain name lawyer, domain names, Erhan Karabardak, investmentproperty.com.au
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.au Domain Administrator, auDA, today announced that it had accepted the recommendations of the Secondary Market Working Group, which included the highly controversial prohibition on the resale of newly registered domain names within 6 months of registration.

Among the recommendations of the Board that were accepted by auDA are:

1. mandate a registrant transfer process, along the lines of the registrar transfer process; and
2. publish information for registrants about the registrant transfer process, including the fact that they can choose to transfer their domain name to another registrar prior to processing a change of registrant.
3. The six month prohibition on registrant transfers should be removed.
4. auDA should provide more information to the public about drop catching services, including clearly identifying the registrars that provide these services.
5. AusRegistry should clarify its process for changing the Registry Usage Policy, including timing of changes and communications with registrars.
6. auDA should publish a policy which:

• clarifies that connection sharing between related registrars requires auDA’s prior written consent; and
• specifically prohibits connection sharing between unrelated registrars.

The most noteworthy change was the removal of the restriction on the resale of domain names. This policy was seen to be inconsistent and illogical by many industry players. The restrictions did not apply to domain names transferred but only on new registrations.

Some industry observers say that this decision effectively removes restrictions on the trading of domain names, and brings Australia into line with almost every other jurisdiction around the world.

Other changes included the provision of more information to consumer and registrants about domain name transfers and domain name drop services.

 

 

Tags: auDA, domain law, domain lawyer, domain name law, domain names, IT Law, IT Lawyer
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In a judgment released by the Supreme Court of Kentucky on 18 March 2010, the decision of the Kentucky Court of Appeal, which found in favour of the domain owners, was overturned.

More to follow.

Tags: domain law, domain name law, domain name lawyer, domain name lawyers, domain names, IT Lawyer, Kentucky Domain Seizures
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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
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In news to hand, the Kentucky Court of Appeal in a 2 to 1 judgment last night overturned the forfeiture order made by the Court at first instance in the long running 141 Domain Names Case in the State of Kentucky.

It is interesting to note that the majority only examined made two primary findings (apart from standing), (a) that domain names were not gambling devices withing the definition of the legislation; and (b) the forfeiture powers of the Court were limited to situations where there is a criminal conviction, and the legislation did not contemplate forfeiture powers in the absence of a criminal conviction for breaching KRS 528 (the section of the anti-gambling statute).

In our last post we raised doubt over whether domain names could be construed as gambling devices within the definition of Kentucky statute, the Court agreed with our interpretation and said:

“…it stretches credulity to conclude that a series of numbers, or Internet address, can be said to constitute a “machine or any mechanical or other device…designed and manufactured primarily for use in connection with gambling.” We are thus convinced that the trial court clearly erred in concluding that the domain names can be construed to be gambling devices subject to forfeiture under KRS 528.100.”

“If domain names cannot be considered gambling devices, Chapter 528 simply does not give the circuit court jurisdiction over them“.

The dissenting judge took the view that it was best not to look solely at the domains but also the computer systems that were used, and when unified, formed one component of the gambling device. As a consequence the domain names fell within the legislative definition.

In a twist, the State of Kentucky has filed a further appeal against this latest judgment by the Kentucky Court of Appeals. Initial Court documents don’t make it clear what the grounds of the appeal are.

In the meantime, watch this space in one of the most interesting and important domain law cases!

Tags: 141 domain names, domain law, domain name law, domain names, Kentucky Court of Appeal, Kentucky domain forfeitures, Kentucky Domain Seizures
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