Archive for June, 2008
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Thursday, June 26th, 2008
ICANN, The Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers, at its Paris meeting this week, approved new guidelines paving the way for an explosion in the number of Top Level Domain names (TLDs). Currently, there are 21 TLDs – such as .com, .net – from which to choose. With the introduction of new TLDs, any string of letters will be allowed to be used in a domain name.
A draft Implementation Model presented at the meeting, lays out the criteria under which new TLDs will be evaluated, including technical and financial considerations. In addition, the Implementation Model contemplates an objection process based on four criteria: string confusion, existing legal rights, morality and public order, and community objections. Disputes between an objector and a TLD applicant will be resolved by an independent dispute resolution policy provider.
The final version of the implementation plan has to be approved by the ICANN Board, and is likely to be published in early 2009. As well, ICANN still has to work out the details, such as the fees for new domains. It is anticipated that the process for new names won’t start until some time in mid-2009.
Posted in Domain Names | No Comments »
Red Cross Lawsuit Settled
Thursday, June 19th, 2008
In an earlier post discussing the protection of the Red Crystal in Canada, we noted that the American arm of the Red Cross movement had been sued by Johnson & Johnson over its licensing of the iconic red cross emblem to for-profit companies for use on commercial products.
In a pair of court decisions–one released last November and in a second released in in mid-May–the court dismissed the bulk of Johnson & Johnson’s claims that the American Red Cross could not use the symbol in commercially competitive activities.
On Tuesday, the parties announced that they had settled the outstanding matters in their dispute. Though the terms of settlement were not released, both the American Red Cross and Johnson & Johnson will continue to use the emblem in conjunction with their endeavors.
Posted in Foreign Protection, Protection & Enforcement | No Comments »
New .CA Whois Policy Now In Place – With A Twist
Monday, June 16th, 2008
In a recent post, we reviewed the pending changes to the .CA Whois policy. On June 10, 2008, those changes were implemented. The biggest change is the cloaking of most of the Whois information for individual registrants, regardless of whether the domain names of such registrants are being used for commercial, unlawful or other purposes. In response to concerns of both law enforcement officials and the owners of intellectual property rights, CIRA has also implemented special procedures to permit the disclosure of personal information about individual .CA Registrants, provided various requirements are met.
For intellectual property owners, those requirements are numerous, including that the Requestor must have a good faith “Dispute” (as defined) in process with the Registrant, the Requestor must agree to provide CIRA with whatever supporting documentation CIRA may require from time to time, the Requestor must have attempted to send a message to the Registrant through the Interested Party Contact Procedure no less than 14 days prior to this request with no resolution of the Dispute.
The term “Dispute” is exhaustively defined and requires that a Requestor reasonably believe in good faith that a Registrant’s domain name and/or its content (presumably this reference to content is to content of a website that the domain name in question links to, rather than the content of the domain name itself) infringes the Requestor’s registered Canadian trademark, copyright or patent or registered Canadian (Federal or Provincial) corporate, business or trade name. A Dispute can also involve the use of the Requestor’s personal information without their knowledge or consent to commit identity theft.
Posted in Domain Name Disputes, Domain Names, Protection & Enforcement | No Comments »