1.
gTLD Update
NetNames
launches .info 'Sunrise' applications on Monday, July 16
NetNames
will become the first UK registrar to begin accepting .info
applications on Monday, July 16, 2001.
Applications
can be made through www.gtld.com,
the NetNames website dedicated to new domain name suffixes.
They will then be queued in the system and submitted to
the Afilias registry when this goes live on July 25, 2001.
To register
during this phase, the trademark must have had national
effect prior to October 2, 2000. The following will need
to be submitted at the time of application:
- The
ASCII characters composing the trademark or service mark
- The date the trademark / service mark was issued
- The country where the trademark was registered
- The trademark / service mark number
All
registrations during the Sunrise period will be for a minimum
of 5 years and a maximum of 10 years.
.biz
latest
Remember
that you only have three more weeks to submit your IP claim
form for your .biz domain name.
2.
Industry
News
US
dotcom keeps ownership of SouthAfrica.com
South
Africa has abandoned its fight to own the southafrica.com
domain name.
Last
year, South African officials tried to obtain the domain
name from US dotcom Virtual Countries, which had registered
southafrica.com in 1995 along with other names like e-england.com
and russia.com.
South
Africa threatened to take its case to the World Intellectual
Property Organisation (WIPO), but in retaliation, Virtual
Countries filed a lawsuit against South Africa and the South
African Tourist Board.
Last
week a US District Court Judge dismissed Virtual Countries'
suit because the court lacked jurisdiction under the Foreign
Sovereign Immunities Act. South Africa also said it would
drop its threat to take the company to WIPO.
"This
is a landmark case because a US court is for the first time
saying countries are not going to get protection for their
names," said Maxim Waldbaum, a senior partner at the
New York office of law firm Salans who defended Virtual
Countries in the case.
"Because
the decision indicates that South Africa would likely lose
any ownership challenge, the cloud that South Africa attempted
to put on Virtual Countries' title to the domain name has
passed."
South
Africa is now waiting for a change in the law so it can
claim the URL.
Domain
Name Confusion From Ruling On eReferee
A federal
judge in the US this week ruled that the owner of the domain
name eReferee.com cannot use the word 'referee' in connection
with its site. The ruling reverses an earlier decision by
the dispute resolution arm of ICANN. To date, almost all
ICANN arbitrators' rulings have been affirmed by courts
in the rare instances in which litigation has ensued.
The
judge's ruling appears to grant Referee Magazine, the plaintiff,
exclusive right to use the word 'referee' in connection
with online activities. Previously, courts have usually
ruled that commonly used words are not exclusive even to
parties who have trademarks on those words in connection
with other activities.
3.
Nic News
auDA
approves competition model for Australian domain
The
auDA Board, the organisation which administers the .au domain
name has approved the final report of the competition model
advisory panel, recommending a model for the introduction
of competition in the provision of .au domain name services.
The
main features of the competition model are:
* open tender process, to be administered by auDA, for provision
of registry services for .au second level domains
* registry tenderers able to bid for all, some or one second
level domains
* registrars to be accredited by auDA
* registrars able to sell domain names in all second level
domains
* technical standards to be imposed on the registry
* consumer safeguards to be imposed on registrars and resellers
Under
the model, auDA will no longer operate the AUNIC registry,
but will
continue to provide some services in the public interest
(for example, the
WHOIS domain name look-up service). auDA will also be responsible
for
regulating industry conduct, including matters such as renewal
notices and advance payment of fees.
