1.
gTLD Update
Corporates
urged to submit defensive .name requests today!
NetNames
would like to remind companies that they only have until
today, December 14, 2001 to submit their defensive .name
registrations.
Defensive
registrations will block out speculators and domain pirates.
For further information and to submit your defensive .name
registration, please go to www.gtld.com.
2.
Industry
News
US
law rules on domain name decisions
The
first US Circuit Court of Appeals this week ruled that federal
courts have jurisdiction over international domain name
disputes. This includes cases filed with WIPO, the World
Intellectual Property Organisation, and reverses an earlier
decision by a lower court.
Under
the two-year old Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection
Act, a domain name holder may file a civil action suit in
US courts if the domain name has been suspended, disabled
or transferred.
As a
result, it was ruled that a US domain registrant who lost
the domain Corinthians.com to a Brazilian soccer team in
a WIPO dispute resolution process, may obtain a US court
decision that would permit him keeping the domain name.
The
court case will basically centre around the registrant clearing
his name of any accusations of cybersquatting. He claims
he had never heard of the Corinthians football team before
being contacted by them in September 1999. If he is cleared
of cybersquatting, the decision of WIPO and the UDRP itself
will effectively be undermined. Legal experts have stated
that the case sets a significant precedent in establishing
the right to appeal arbitration decisions under the UDRP.
Web
site popularity doesn't heighten trademark claims
Operating
a popular web site does not mean site owners can claim trademark-like
rights, according to an international arbitrator. A recent
WIPO decision has ruled that web site popularity as measured
by mechanical hit counters does not by itself show any claim
to trademark or service mark rights.
Microsoft
disowns Nokia cybersquatting prank
Microsoft
has blamed a single cybersquatter, acting alone for hijacking
several Nokia-related domain names and diverting them to
Microsoft's PocketPC web site.
Nokia
related domains such as series60.com (Nokia's new software
platform) now point to www.microsoft.com/mobile. However,
Nokia has denied it would take legal action. Meanwhile a
search to reveal the identity of the prankster has drawn
a blank, as he or she filed the registrations with bogus
details.
3.
NIC News
.tm.za
currently not available
The
South African registry is currently not accepting applications
for the new .tm.za domain suffix. NetNames expects the registry
to reopen for new registrations some time later in December.
N3Lite will of course keep you informed of this.
4.
NetNames News
Report
on joint ITU/WIPO Multilingual Domain Name System Meeting
Last
week's meeting was held jointly by the International
Telecommunications Union and the World Property Organisation.
Both Geneva-based organisations have an interest in
setting the agenda on pan-national domain name standards.
Major
players represented included some of the many countries
whose languages are written in non-Roman script. The
Japanese, Korean and Chinese NICs, the Arabic Internet
Names Consortium and MINC (the Multilingual Internet
Names Consortium), as well as Verisign have all proceeded
in one way or other with multilingual domain names,
regardless of standards. Example of multilingual TLDs
are as follows:
The
implementation of multilingual domain names raises a
number of complex issues, including interoperability,
the appropriate administrative arrangements for multilingual
domains, competition policy, as well as wider related
cultural and social issues inherently associated with
languages.
The
meeting was very effective at presenting the issues
as well as highlighting the need for a standards based
approach. However, it was also clear that work is progressing
regardless of standards and that this does represent
a serious issue for brandowners needing to make effective
decisions on where to register.
Comprehensive
briefing papers are available from both WIPO and the
ITU as follows:
WIPO:
Internationalized Domain Names - Intellectual Property
Considerations
ITU: Internationalized Domain Names - Technology &
Policy Aspects
From: http://www.itu.int/mdns/briefingpaper/index.html#itu
5.
Fact of the week
Home
is where the Net is
Jupiter
MMXI's "Online Market Landscape" surveys more
than 5,000 people quarterly to examine Internet use in
Britain. According to second quarter results, 61 percent
of people use their home as their base to go online. Thirty-two
percent said they go online from work, and about the same
percentage said they go online from Internet cafés,
libraries, friends' houses and schools.
Among
the devices capable of accessing the Internet, game consoles
and TV set-top boxes have seen the most dramatic increase
in usage. TV set-top boxes grew by half a million people
in the second quarter. WAP phones do not appear to be
popular Internet access devices. Less than 1 million people
logged on from a WAP phone during the survey.
|
U.K. Internet Access by Device
|
|
Device
|
Percent of
Net Access
|
|
Home Computer
|
61.0%
|
|
Work Computer
|
32.2%
|
|
Mobile Phone
|
10.4%
|
|
Game Console/
Other Home Device
|
9.3%
|
|
TV Set-Top Box
|
4.3%
|
|
PDA
|
1.6%
|
|
Source: Jupiter MMXI
|
© NetNames 2001
