{"id":3172,"date":"2001-09-04T15:01:07","date_gmt":"2001-09-04T20:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smperformance.wordpress.com\/2013\/08\/03\/stratvantage-consulting-llc-mikes-take-on-the-news-090401\/"},"modified":"2001-09-04T15:01:07","modified_gmt":"2001-09-04T20:01:07","slug":"stratvantage-consulting-llc-mikes-take-on-the-news-090401","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stratvantage.com\/index.php\/2001\/09\/04\/stratvantage-consulting-llc-mikes-take-on-the-news-090401\/","title":{"rendered":"StratVantage Consulting, LLC — Mike’s Take on the News 09\/04\/01"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
\n

From Evernote:<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

StratVantage Consulting, LLC — Mike’s Take on the News 09\/04\/01<\/h1>\n

Clipped from: http:\/\/www.stratvantage.com\/news\/090401.htm<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

T<\/strong>he News \u2013 09\/04\/01<\/h1>\n

In this Issue:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Cybersquatting Is Legal \u2013 For Some <\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing like a monopoly.<\/strong> You get to make your own rules and wield power however you want.<\/strong> So I guess it\u2019s not surprising that, when <\/a>ICANN <\/a> gave monopolies to the registrars for the seven new top level domains (.biz, .name, .pro, .museum, .info, .aero, and .coop), there\u2019d be opportunities for abuse.<\/strong> Turns out abuse is practically mandated in the new domain operators’ contracts, which entitles them to register up to 10,000 domains for themselves before allowing anyone else access.<\/strong> This means that 10,000 of the most valuable, juiciest domain names are likely to not be available to all comers.<\/strong> Names like business.biz, museum.museum and the like could be controlled by the domain registrar, who could auction them to the highest bidders.<\/strong> Afilias, a consortium of 18 companies and domain registrar for the .info domain, has registered search.info, for example.<\/strong> ICANN argues that a registry operator will need a wide range of addresses on that registry in order to work effectively.<\/strong> Here\u2019s <\/a> a list of names reserved by NeuLevel, the administrator of the .biz gTLD (generic Top Level Domain).<\/strong><\/p>\n

As if that\u2019s not bad enough, other registrants have taken many desirable domain names in the early registration period, which is supposed to be available only to trademark owners.<\/strong> So if you had your heart set on getting sports.info, computer.info, bank.info, or finance.info, you can forget it.<\/strong> All have been snapped up <\/a> by registrants who did not hold legitimate trademarks.<\/strong> Afilias says they\u2019ll take action in December, after their review of the early registration period ends.<\/strong> One study <\/a> found that of 11,000 .info registrations, between 15 and 25 percent were bogus.<\/strong> My personal favorite bogus registration was for bible.info, which claimed its trademark number was \u201c1\u201d.<\/strong> Not according to the USPTO, it\u2019s not.<\/strong> With all this potential cybersquatting, Afilias has its work cut out for it if it hopes to clear it all up by yearend.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Domain registrar NeuLevel, which was awarded the .biz monopoly, has been accused <\/a> by Amazon of running an illegal lottery, and has filed suit to defend itself.<\/strong> At issue is the pre-registration period NeuLevel established in which applicants pay a small fee to reserve the rights to a name.<\/strong> On September 17, the company will randomly award contested names.<\/strong> I don\u2019t know about you, but that sounds an awful lot like a lottery to me.<\/strong> However, I don\u2019t really know how else a registrar can resolve multiple claims for a single name, unless there\u2019s trademark or other intellectual property rights at stake (like in cocacola.biz).<\/strong> Amazon supposedly has said in a letter to the company, \u201cNeuLevel is deriving enhanced revenues by selling chances to register or to challenge registration of domain names that incorporate famous trademarks such as AMAZON.COM.<\/strong>\u201d NeuLevel counters with a reasonable-sounding point: other firms, such as Amazon Imaging Inc.<\/strong>, might reasonably stake a claim to the address www.amazon.biz.<\/strong> \u201cBecause amazon.com and amazon.biz exist in different top-level domains, they resolve to different and unique Internet addresses and thus can function and coexist without collision,\u201d the suit says.<\/strong> Where\u2019s Solomon when we need him?<\/p>\n

The bottom line on all of this is, as I\u2019ve said before <\/a>, the new domain names will not provide any relief to the overcrowding of the .com top level domain.<\/strong> In a random check of .info registrations, the usual suspects held the domains coke.info, pepsi.info, nike.info, and nbc.info.<\/strong> How exactly is this better? If Amazon is insisting on getting Amazon.biz, even though they are by far not the only Amazon in the world, what can we expect of names like \u201cExcel,\u201d which are applied to various businesses in various industries.<\/strong> Trademark law allows this because a trademark only applies to a class of trade.<\/strong> The new gTLDs are not industry-specific, and so chaos will again reign, and the big companies will scoop up all the good names.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That being said, businesses need to evaluate the need for representation in the new gTLDs.<\/strong> Do you want your competition to register your name?<\/strong> Most businesses have no choice other than registering in all the gTLDs possible.<\/strong> It\u2019s a shame ICANN has not come up with a better solution.<\/strong> Heck, at this point, we may not ever see a better solution.<\/strong><\/p>\n

IT Analysis <\/a><\/p>\n

Briefly Noted<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n