• DotTV Wants to Be Your Domain
  Hoping to break from the pack of teeny domains like .tm, .md, and .to, .tv has launched a major advertising campaign, touting itself as the perfect symbol for the Internet's future.
  .... full story

• ICANN Extends Deadline For Self-Nominees
  Citing "relatively low" participation in the global primary election for candidates seeking to serve on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' (ICANN) powerful board of directors, the ICANN staff last week quietly extended the deadline for ICANN members to endorse candidates.
  .... full story

08/30/2000

• Dow Jones Retrieves Domain Name From Squatter
  US-based business news publisher Dow Jones & Co. has won a brief skirmish to claim the Internet address DowJonesOnline.com from a so-called cybersquatter
  .... full story

• Domain Boom in Germany: Almost 3 Million Registered Internet Addresses
  By the weekend, over 3 million Internet addresses will be registered in Germany. The 1 million line was only crossed in October 1999. The number of .de domains has thus more than tripled in just 11 months. According to the German central registry for .de domains, DENIC e.G., between 6000 and 10000 new domain names are submitted every day. This is the equivalent of a new .de domain every 10 seconds, as DENIC spokesman Klaus Herzig told de.internet.com.
  .... full story

• Network Solutions Joins New-Domain Effort
  More than 20 Internet address sellers including industry giant Network Solutions Inc. are taking part in a consortium effort to create and operate one of the handful of new Internet domains set to be approved later this year.
  .... full story

• EasyJet flies into domain name turbulence
  Setting up as a consumer champion is no guarantee of success in domain name battles. EasyJet thought it was entitled to 'easy-jet.com'. But it's actually the domain name for a refiller of ink jet cartridges. And EasyJet lost the fight to take over the name. What's in a domain name?
  .... full story

• Guinness "Sucks" Domain Disputes Come To A Head
  A jokester with a thing for that thick Irish beer called Guinness may be laying claim to the ultimate test for the funny bones of international arbitrators refereeing Internet domain-name disputes.
  .... full story

• Counsels' Domain-Name Pains
  Porn, infringement, cybersquatters: the Web's new frontier
  .... full story

• ICANN Supports Foreign Language Domain Names In Principle
  While the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) vowed on Friday to keep a close eye on Network Solutions' plan to internationalize the Internet's addressing system, ICANN did not oppose the move.
  .... full story

• ICANN Rules the Internet and is having an Election
  The "Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers" (ICANN) is a non-profit agency that has been assigned the responsibility to make decisions about allocating domain names. They are the group with the power to decide, for example, whether to adopt a ".union" top-level domain. They also could set policies that might prohibit someone outside of a corporation from using that corporation's name in a domain (FirestoneTireSafety.org).
  .... full story

08/29/2000

• Domain name game called greed
  Naseem Javed, president of ABC Namebank International and the author of "Domain Wars," receives e-mail from a lot of folks who believe they'll strike gold if they scoop up domain names and sell them to others at inflated prices.
  .... full story

• Domain Name Search Goes Digital
  ViaGold Capital Limited officially launched the world's first ever Internet Service Provider Tuesday which requires no knowledge of romanized characters to access Web sites.
  .... full story

• JPNIC Names Domain Dispute Arbitrator
  Japan Network Information Center (JPNIC), the organization that manages registration of Japanese (.jp) Internet domain names, has selected an arbitrator for its new dispute resolution service.
  .... full story

08/28/2000

• U.S. looks to bolster national pride in domain names
  Internet addresses tagged with a country code--such as ".fr" for France--may be a source of national pride around the world, but ".us" is this country's forgotten stepchild.
  .... full story

• NSI Opens Multilingual Domain Name Testbed
  Over the past few years, the Internet has become a truly global phenomenon with countries in all stages of development getting connected. But the Domain Name System (DNS) requires that all hosts and domain names be identified using seven-bit US-ASCII characters that can be represented in English. That forces non-English speakers to learn English language host and domain names.
  .... full story

08/26/2000

• China warns Internet domain name squatters
  China has drafted tough new rules on Internet domain name registration after legal wrangles involving firms such as Microsoft and Procter & Gamble, the China Daily reports today.
  .... full story

• Internet domain owners fight to keep names
  Go to the Web site www.barcelona.com and you can read the latest news from Spain, buy jewelry inspired by the architect Antoni Gaudi and check out the Spanish weather forecast.
  But maybe not for much longer, because a United Nations organization has ordered the New York company that runs the site to hand over the domain name barcelona.com to Barcelona's city council.
  .... full story

08/25/2000

• NSI calls server failure a "major incident"
  Network Solutions executives classified the brief failure Wednesday night of four of the 13 computers that manage global Internet traffic as a "major, major incident," according to reports.
  .... full story

• ACFIP to Handle Troubles Concerning JP Domain Names
  The Japan Network Information Center said on Aug. 22 the the Arbitration Center for Industrial Property (ACFIP) will handle troubles concerning JP domain names, or addresses on the Internet, starting from Oct. 19.
  .... full story

• DOMAIN NAMES: British Firms Win On Sites; Madonna Seeks Same
  The UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) awarded on Friday five Internet domain names ending in "sucks.com" to five British firms maligned by the Web sites.
  .... full story

• Madonna fights for Internet domain name
  The singer has lodged a complaint with the United Nations, asking its World Intellectual Property Organization to order the handover of the site, owned by New Jersey entrepreneur Dan Parisi.
  .... full story

• ICANN blames postal system for election delay
  The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has extended the deadline for nominations to appoint five new "at large" directors because its members have yet to receive documentation that would allow them to do so.
  .... full story

08/24/2000

• Parody sites sucked into cybersquatting squabbles
  Protest and parody sites that register Internet addresses based on trademarked corporate names are increasingly coming out on the losing end in domain name disputes, according to a review of arbitration records.
  .... full story

08/23/2000

• The Internet needs more descriptive domain names
  This school yard brawl over Web turf is perfectly acceptable under the first-come, first-served rules for buying Internet names. But for a casual Internet user, this bait and switch can be quite confusing.
  .... full story

• Domain seller takes a pasting
  Melbourne IT signalled that sales of Internet domain names would slow significantly in the September quarter, sending its shares plummeting more than 30 per cent and sparking near-panic in the technology sector.
  .... full story

• NSI to test multilingual domain name system
  NSI Tuesday said it would start a test program allowing registration of multilingual domain names in 55 languages and character sets through the 60 or more registrars accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
  .... full story

08/22/2000

• Resellers find big money within their domain
  The Internet address www.flu.com is for sale - and its sellers think it is worth $US1.4 million ($A2.4 million).
  .... full story

• Domain name reflection
  With plans to step down in November from her post as chair of ICANN (the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers), Esther Dyson on Wednesday recapped some of the organization's early growing pains.
  .... full story

• Multilingual domain names promoted
  ARABIC DOESN'T TRANSLATE well in Web addresses, and neither do Japanese, Hebrew, Chinese, Swedish, or any of dozens of languages with letters absent from a standard Roman-lettered keyboard. The Internet is global, but Web addresses are not, a state of affairs that domain registrar Network Solutions (NSI) says it intends to improve
  .... full story

08/21/2000

• Madonna.com embroiled in domain ownership spat
  A pornographer who has registered hundreds of domain names could lose one of the biggest gems in his collection: Madonna.com
  .... full story

• Internet Registrar Consortium Wants To Run New Domain
  A loosely knit consortium of Internet registrars is vying to operate one of the handful of new Internet "neighborhoods" set to be approved by the powerful Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) later this year
  .... full story

• CyberWorks Pays A Cool Million For Domain Names
  When you've just completed a whopping US$38 billion merger, what's another million bucks? It's exactly the amount the Hong Kong-based Internet giant Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW) has shelled out for the cyberworks.com and cyberworks.net domain names.
  .... full story

• Domain Arbitrator Blows Away More "Sucks" Addresses
  Rulings that will likely separate Internet-address claim-jumpers from domain names that add the word "sucks" to well- known corporate monikers are piling up under a speedy arbitration process designed to help rid the Web of "cybersquatters."
  .... full story

• ICANN Self-Nominees Compete For Ballot Slots
  Over the next few days, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will begin urging its global Internet user constituency to help decide who should be on the ballot for the pivotal ICANN board elections set to take place in October, an ICANN official said Thursday.
  .... full story

08/18/2000

• .IE Domain Body Seeks Charity Status
  The body which supplies .ie internet domains hopes to have charity status when it becomes a limited company in six months' time, according to a report.
  .... full story

• Does the Internet need a flock of domain name regulators?
  On the Internet, your domain name is your address and your business may be greatly effected if someone else tries to use or abuse it. So how does the Internet police domain name address conflicts. With true Web entrepreneurship there are four organisations currently able to arbitrate in any dispute. Add in the body with notional responsibility for all domain names (ICANN) and chaos is sure to follow, especially as ICANN is widely regarded as a body with a reputation for putting vendor self-interest above the needs of ordinary Internet users.
  .... full story

08/17/2000

• Domain name regulator slammed for vendor bias
  Domain name regulator Icann has come under fire for putting vendor self-interest above the needs of Internet users.
  .... full story

• Domain registrations top 20 million
  The total number of registered top-level domains (TLDs) passed the 20 million milestone this week, according to London-based internet company Virtual Internet.
  .... full story

• Canada Moves Closer To Big ".ca" Domain Sales
  Long-awaited reform of the process for meting out Internet domain names under the Canadian country-code designation ".ca" took a big step forward this week when outfits eager to resell the addresses were allowed to apply as registrars.
  .... full story

08/16/2000

• The Domain In Spain Stays Mainly With Those Who Complain
  In a ruling that should cause concern for many Web-site- operating travel companies and city "portals" around the world, an arbitrator officiating over rights to the Internet address Barcelona.com has decided it should be taken away from its current owners and handed to the Spanish city with the sound-alike name.
  .... full story

08/15/2000

• Barcelona domain name ruling draws fire
  A precedent-setting international ruling could make thousands of privately owned Internet addresses based on city or other place names easy pickings for Web-savvy governments around the world.
  .... full story

• War declared against domain pirates
  The World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo) has drafted controversial proposals that will allow it to revoke the domain names of websites that conflict with "geographical terms, personal names and tradenames", in an effort to toughen its stance against online intellectual property pirates.
  .... full story

• Domain registrations overtake car theft
  Registering new .co.uk names has become more popular in the UK than stealing cars, UK naming authority Nominet told uk.internet.com today.
  .... full story

08/14/2000

• New Internet domains solicited
  The .com domain has become so popular that there are few real English words left to associate with a Web address.
  .... full story

• Three .co.uk domain names registered every minute
  There are now 150,000 new .co.uk domain names registered every month, that works out at a whopping three domains registered per minute. Registering domain names has now become more popular than stealing cars in the UK; during 1999 an average of two cars were stolen per minute.
  .... full story

• Ireland Lags in Domain Name Registration
  Ireland is lagging in the registration of .ie websites, a domain registration group revealed today, with the UK holding almost 2 million .co.uk sites
  .... full story

• U.N. panel hands Yahoo 40 domain names
  Internet portal Yahoo won the rights to 40 Internet addresses in two rulings by United Nations arbitrators released today.
  .... full story

08/12/2000

• ICANN can't, but ICANNT can
  Two groups have begun a renegade voter registration effort for Web users left out of an ICANN election in October due to the Internet governing body's computer problems.
  .... full story

08/11/2000

• UK surfers prefer .co.uk domains
  A top UK domain name registrar has warned UK ebusinesses to take care when creating their web presence.
  .... full story

• Geographic Domains on Shaky Ground
  In a landmark decision, the World Intellectual Property Organization says Barcelona can reclaim its domain name.
  .... full story

• Amazon registers car-related Web names
  The Web retailer has registered a number of automotive-oriented domain names--Usedcarsamazon.com, Newcarsamazon.com, Sellcarsamazon.com, Carclassifiedsamazon.com and Partsamazon.com--according to a search of the Whois domain name registry.
  .... full story

• Gore camp gets domain name
  A college student with foresight and a soft spot for Al Gore has presented the Democratic presidential ticket with a gift he bought five months ago -- http// www.gorelieberman.com
  .... full story

• D-Day for Nazi domain
  The German authorities are currently investigating a breach of the country's constitutional law after the registration of the il-hitler.de domain.
  .... full story

• ICANN Hopefuls Vie For Ballot
  More than 20 people worldwide are attempting to get their names on the ballot for the upcoming board elections of the powerful Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
  .... full story

08/10/2000

• Network Solutions can profit from domains
  Since domain name registrar Network Solutions came under fire for hoarding expired domain names with the intention of selling them at a profit ( see our earlier story ) it now has the opportunity to sit smugly in the confidence that it has federal permission to do so.
  .... full story

• German soldier suspected in Hitler domain case
  A German army sergeant, 28, suspected of registering "www.heil-hitler.de" last week has been suspended from duty.
  .... full story

08/09/2000

• Dotcom domains are running out
  Businesses are struggling to find a domain name that has not already been taken.
  .... full story

• The Slippery Slope of Domain Disputes
  Lately, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has been more opinionated thanJudge Judy at high noon, delivering blow after blow to domain prospectors panning for Internet gold... WIPO's broad arbitration authority related specifically to "famous and well-known" brands is a dangerous precedent.
  .... full story

• Rita Rudner wins her own domain
  A United Nations arbitrator has awarded Rita Rudner the right to the Internet domain name ritarudner.com.
  .... full story

• Users come last in ICANN elections scramble
  This week ICANN - the secretive quango charged with maintaining the Internet's domain names and numbers - managed to argue that its oversubscribed board elections were both a sign of healthy democracy... and a terrible case of vox diaboli.
  .... full story

• ICANN's Nominees Come Under Fire
  Two weeks after the People for Internet Responsibility took aim at the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers for its board selection criteria, another organization has surfaced to question the qualifications of the nominees.
  .... full story

08/08/2000

• Penguin picks the wrong domain name
  Publisher Penguin in the US is facing legal action by printing a book which has a title that is a domain name the company does not own.
  .... full story

• Neo-Nazi Domain Name Controversy Boils
  Germany's Internet registry and Justice Ministry are working on ways to keep neo-Nazi domain names off the Web.
  .... full story

• UN decision on Fifa domain name
  The marketing company for world soccer's governing body, Fifa, won the rights to the Internet domain name fifa-world-cup.com in a new ruling
  .... full story

08/07/2000

• Icann nominates 18 candidates for five top spots
  The global domain name governing body, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) has announced the eighteen candidates shortlisted to stand in its October elections.
  .... full story

• Register.com Files Complaint Against Verio for Use of Customer Data
  Register.com, New York, filed a complaint last week in the U.S. Court for the Southern District of New York alleging that Web-hosting company Verio, Englewood, CO, conducted direct marketing campaigns to Register.com’s database of customers without its authorization.
  .... full story

• Jimi Hendrix kin win domain name
  The family of late guitar legend Jimi Hendrix has won a battle in cyberspace, as a U.N. arbitrator awarded it the rights to the Internet domain name Jimihendrix.com.
  .... full story

• Time Warner, EMI Win Domain-Name Rulings
  Several major companies have been handed control of Internet domain names that were registered following merger announcements.
  .... full story

08/04/2000

• Jesse Ventura Won't Go To Mat For Domain Name
  Gov. Jesse Ventura doesn't back down from a fight as a wrestler or in the political arena, but he apparently doesn't want to get into a bidding war for the Web site that bears his name.
  .... full story

• NSI Litigant Drops Case Over Domain Name Fees
  Network Solutions, now a VeriSign company (stock: VRSN), said Friday that attorneys have dropped their class action suit against NSI and the Commerce Department over Internet domain name registration fees. The plaintiffs in the potential $1.7 billion lawsuit, William D. Hoefer, et al. v. U.S. Department of Commerce, et al., filed a voluntary dismissal.
  .... full story

• ICANN sets ground rules for proposing new domain-name registries
  The organization charged with managing the Internet domain name system has started setting ground rules for the groups or companies that want to manage new top-level domains to join existing ones such as .com, .org and .net. And for some people it's an opportunity -- but an expensive one.
  .... full story

• Reader says crooked domain registrars cheated him out of millions
  Industry insiders have hit back against claims that domain name registrars bag all the best names when users search their sites, and keep them for themselves.
  .... full story
  Editor's Note: DomainRegister.com condemns this unethical practice

• Domain Application Process Delayed
  After missing the Aug. 1 deadline it set for itself in Yokohama a few weeks ago, The Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers is giving registrants for new top-level domains less than a month to submit new proposals.
  .... full story

08/03/2000

• Web body to review domain proposals
  The Internet's oversight body said today it will accept proposals next month for expanding the pool of online addresses used to find Web sites.
  .... full story

• Wal-Mart Sucks Names Away From Domain Claim Jumper
  An arbitrator weighing a dispute over the rights to Internet domain names such as Wal-MartCanadaSucks.com and WalMartPuertoRicoSucks.com has determined that the addresses should belong to department store giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. [NYSE:WMT], rather than the Canadian resident who argues such "protest" monikers are just fair comment in the form of a Web URL.
  .... full story

• Applications to be taken for new Net domain names
  DOT-WHAT? We're a little closer to the day when .com, .org, .net and other well-known Internet address suffixes get some long-needed company. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN (www.icann.org), announced Thursday that it'll begin taking applications next month from organizations that want to create new top-level domains, as those suffixes are known.
  .... full story

08/02/2000

• ICANN's registration systems swamped
  A much higher-than-expected number of Internet enthusiasts have put their names in the running for five at-large positions on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers board of directors.
  .... full story

08/01/2000

• Yahoo, others gain domain names from U.N. rulings
  U.N. arbitrators decided in favor of Yahoo, Microsoft, AT&T and Japan Tobacco in a series of rulings on "cybersquatting" disputes released today.
  .... full story

• NotHarvard.com slapped with an Ivy League lawsuit
  Harvard University is suing the Internet start-up notHarvard.com for alleged trademark violations, saying the online company is unlawfully exploiting the lucrative Ivy League name for financial gain.
  .... full story

• Internet Users To Vote For ICANN Board Members
  Over 150,000 Internet users will be able to vote in a global election in October to choose five members to the board of the organization that administers the Internet, ICANN said Monday.
  .... full story