• OFT warns on domain name sales
  The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is warning companies to beware of the pressure tactics used to sell internet domain names
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04/28/2004

• Non-Commercial Website Domain Names Using Trademarks
  There are now several different courts of appeals that have upheld the right of individuals to post a non-commercial website using the domain name www.company.com, and there are as yet NO appellate decisions that forbid such websites outside the context of the serial cybersquatter who tries to erect a so-called gripe site as a CYA measure after being sued. In fact, it seems to me that we are getting close to the point where companies that sue over such websites have to consider seriously the possibility that they will not only lose the suit, but face a malicious prosecution action or other counter-measure from the consumer critic seeking damages for having been sued
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• Local businesses falling for domain-name scams
  "No, honest, someone else really wants to buy it... They just can't come to the phone right now"
  Scammers trying to con money for domain names are targeting businesses, the Office of Fair Trading warned today
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• Beware the domain slammers - UK gov
  The UK's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is warning small businesses to look out for dodgy domain name registration services, after receiving several complaints from companies
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• EC tells Europe and ICANN to make peace
  The ever-present issue of who gets to run the Internet is coming to a head and the European Commission has made it clear it wants the arguments sorted out sooner rather than later
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• Company warned against misleading domain names
  A domain name vendor and its sole director have been banned by the Federal Court from providing misleading web domain names.
  The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said the orders followed an earlier finding by the court that Domain Names Australia Pty Ltd and its director Chesley Paul Rafferty had breached the Trade Practices Act
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• ACCC orders Domain Names ban
  THE director of an internet company who has been banned from distributing letters selling internet domain names says he will appeal the ruling
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04/27/2004

• Nominet ease cybersquatter eviction
  UK Domain registry, Nominet UK is looking to update its Domain Resolution Service with the intention of making it easier to evict cybersquatters
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04/23/2004

• How to get a new top-level domain approved by ICANN
  As a public service, I explain here how to get a new top-level domain approved by ICANN.
  Top-level domains--such as .COM and .ORG--remain a hot topic. Millions of dollars rest on who can get a new one. And a lot of people are wondering when this odd part of the Internet (the only part artificially constrained from growth) will start to catch up with the rest
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04/22/2004

• Google Wins Rights to Froogle UK Domain - Froogle.co.uk
  Google has won ownership of the domain name froogle.co.uk, which was registered in the UK by a web hosting company - LWD Internet. Google alleged that LWD Internet, an e-commerce solutions provider (www.lwdinternet.co.uk) registered the Froogle.co.uk domain name one day after Google launched it’s Froogle.com website
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• Sex.com, VeriSign, settle six-year legal battle over Internet domain name
  VeriSign Inc. has agreed to settle a six-year legal battle over claims that one of its subsidiaries wrongly transferred the lucrative Sex.com domain name to a convicted forger
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04/21/2004

• ICANN Issues Call for Transfer Dispute Resolution Service Providers
  ICANN is seeking expressions of interest from dispute resolution service providers wishing to handle second-level dispute resolution proceedings under the Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy and the corresponding Transfer Dispute Resolution Policy
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• Accountant's Old Domain Name Now Shows Porn
  The Internet can be a helpful tool in building up and maintaining a business, but what happens when your Internet site name goes bad?
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04/20/2004

• Domain Names Australia Appeals Ruling
  According to a report from The Age, Chelsey Rafferty, owner of Domain Names Australia, has appealed against a federal court ruling that found his business sent prospective customers deceptive and misleading letters. The injunctions were filed against Domain Name Australia earlier this month by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and AuDA, the Australian domain name administrator and self-regulator
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• Six-Year Contested Court Battle Is Over
  Sex.Com (www. sex.com) announced today a final settlement with VeriSign (Nasdaq: VRSN) (formerly Network Solutions, Inc.), concluding a six-year legal fight that set several important precedents for the future of the Internet. After the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted Sex.Com a sweeping victory that held VeriSign/Network Solutions, Inc. (collectively "VeriSign") strictly responsible for mishandling the famous domain name, Sex.Com and VeriSign have settled Sex.Com's lawsuit against VeriSign
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04/19/2004

• June date for Nominet legal fight
  UK domain name registry Nominet has been given a June date for its legal action in Australia against two businessmen over an alleged data mining attack on its WHOIS database
  .... full story Mbr>
• Website owners warned over domain invoices
  Nominet to take legal action
  Domian name owners have been urged to be wary of demands for re-registration fees
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04/18/2004

• All hail the new TLD - .ax
  The tiny province of the Aland Islands - located between old rivals Sweden and Finland - has become an official country with no fanfare whatsoever and is now entitled to its own, new, top-level Internet domain, .ax
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04/16/2004

• Details on July 2004 ICANN Meeting to be Held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  ICANN's next round of meetings will be held 19-23 July 2004 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The meetings are free to attend and open to any interested person. ICANN encourages broad participation in its bottom-up, consensus development process
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04/15/2004

• Unlikely Alliance Seeks .xxx Top-Level Domain
  The extreme diversity of the individuals who have banded together to seek a sponsored top-level Internet domain (sTLD)--.xxx--for adult entertainment may be the strongest asset of their application, said the business executive who played a key role in getting them to work together
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• Aussies keen to secure domain
  As the Libyan (.ly) extension disappears from the internet, Australians have statistically become one the most domain-name securing nations with a 62 per cent growth since last year
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04/14/2004

• Update Concerning Recent Outage of the .ly TLD
  As of 23:30 UTC on 13 April 2004, the operation of the .ly TLD has been restored on an interim basis. On 7 April 2004, one of the nameservers for .ly stopped responding. Subsequently, on 9 April 2004, the other nameserver went offline, leaving the domain inaccessible
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• PW Registry Prepares for June Launch
  The PW Registry Corporation (pwregistry.pw) said on Wednesday that it has introduced new tools for resellers designed to accelerate the rollout of the .pw top-level domain to individuals and consumer groups
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• Net closes on web domain name scam
  Business partners Chesley Rafferty and Bradley Norrish see themselves as free-market crusaders, but they have made their names across the world for scooping up millions of dollars from unsuspecting businessesh
  .... full story

04/13/2004

• Dermot Ahern Announces Transfer of .ie to Communications Regulator
  Dermot Ahern TD, Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, today announced that regulation and control of Ireland?s domain name (.ie) is to be transferred to the Commission for Communications Regulation (Comreg)
  Officials at the Minister?s Department are currently drafting legislation to provide for the transfer of the .ie domain name registry (IEDR) to Comreg. The latest domain name figures show almost 40,000 websites with .ie registrations
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• Kiwi cash saved in Oz domain scam
  Over $NZ500,000 ($A433,350) New Zealanders paid an Australian-based domain name company in the mistaken belief they were paying an invoice has been blocked by the NZ Commerce Commission
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• auDA wins claim against domain name vendor
  The administrator of the .au domain space has won a claim against Domain Names Australia and its owner Chesley Rafferty, filed under the Trade Practices Act.
  auDA filed the claim in August last year, following mailouts by Domain Names Australia which auDA alleged were misleading or deceptive in breach of the Trade Practices Act
  .... full story

04/08/2004

• ICANN to Claim VeriSign Suit Violates Free-Speech Law
  The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN (news - web sites)) will file a motion Monday to block an antitrust lawsuit filed by VeriSign Inc., contending that it violates a California law barring suits aimed at chilling public debate and free speech
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04/07/2004

• Spamhaus ICANN Proposal Aims To Stop Spam In Its Tracks
  Spamhaus, a leading spam-fighting organization, believes its application for a .mail top-level Internet domain (TLD) could take a big bite out of the spam that is clogging enterprise e-mail boxes
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• ICANN asks court to reject VeriSign's case
  VeriSign's case against the Internet regulator 'depends on future contingencies', says ICANN
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• ICANN can be international
  If the Internet was the postal system, the only job of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) would be to give each letter an address, the group's head insisted Monday
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04/06/2004

• ICANN asks judge to toss out lawsuit
  A nonprofit organization tasked with overseeing Internet addresses and domain names has taken the first step in responding to an antitrust and breach of contract lawsuit that VeriSign filed in February
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04/05/2004

• Master of Your Domain
  In today's cluttered marketplace, a compelling Web presence can make even the smallest of businesses stand out. Domain names, also known as URLs, are the first step in this process. Before choosing a domain name, one must consider what the objective of the Web site will be, and select the most intuitive name -- or names -- to suit those purposes
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• New .Pro Internet Registry Now Accepting Defensive Registrations for Trademarks and Brand Names
  Trademark and service mark owners have six weeks, starting today, to register domain names with the new .Pro top-level Internet domain (TLD), during a special pre-launch "sunrise" registration campaign announced by .Pro registry operator RegistryPro.
  These defensive domain name registrations are available until May 14, 2004, through any of RegistryPro's authorized registrars.
  The .Pro TLD is designed to give professionals both a distinctive and secure Internet presence for their Web site, email traffic and confidential transactions. Each live .Pro domain registration will include a digital certificate for authenticating communications and transactions. Professionals must undergo a verification process to validate their eligibility for using a .Pro name extension. Initially, the .Pro domain will only be available to doctors, lawyers and CPAs. RegistryPro expects to launch the .Pro domain in June 2004
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04/02/2004

• ICANN Reports on Whois Innaccuracies
  The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (icann.org) published a report this week discussing Whois inaccuracies and the steps being taken to eradicate them
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• BMW wins mini-victory for domain
  The Mini car, depicted in British television advertisements as battling invaders from another planet, has won a real-life victory against an apparent invader from cyberspace.
  BMW, owners of the Mini brand, brought a complaint under the quaintly named Eligibility Requirements Dispute Resolution Policy for .NAME ("ERDRP") against an individual who had registered the domain name
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04/01/2004

• A pitch for a new, mobile-specific Internet domain is under way, but is it really necessary?
  Ten of the biggest mobile and computing companies have joined forces to request the formation of a mobile Internet top level domain (TLD). The mTLD group, consisting of Microsoft, Nokia, Vodafone, T-Mobile, 3, the GSM Association, Hewlett-Packard, Orange, Samsung and Sun Microsystems, hopes that other companies will join them to make it a industry-wide collaboration
  .... full story