WIPO continues efforts to stamp out cybersquatting
Efforts by the World Intellectual Property Organization
(WIPO) to combat the abusive registration of trademarks as
domain names, or cybersquatting, made significant headway
in 2003 although the problem persists most notably for
high-value brands around the world. Since the Uniform
Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) went into
effect in December 1999, through 2003, WIPO’s Arbitration
and Mediation Center has handled some 6,000 disputes,
covering 10,000 domain names.

http://www.wipo.int/edocs/prdocs/en/2004/wipo_upd_2004_217.html

http://www.managinginformation.com/news/content_show_full.php?id=2342

The Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy: A
Cheaper Way to Hijack Domain Names and Suppress Critics -
Keith Blackman
While the Uniform Policy represents an improvement over
costly litigation and the previous dispute policy
implemented by Network Solutions Inc., it can also be used
to facilitate reverse domain name hijacking — where a
trademark owner asserts overextensive trademark rights over
a domain name — and to impinge upon free speech. This Note
illustrates the ways in which the Uniform Policy can be
used, and has already been used, to enable mark owners to
expand their trademark rights on the Internet in ways that
are impermissible under United States law.

http://jolt.law.harvard.edu/articles/pdf/15HarvJLTech211.pdf

Paul Vixie on Fort N.O.C.'s
I wish to correct several misstatements made by Brock Meeks
in his article, "Fort N.O.C.'s", published January 20. I am
speaking as an operator of the "F" root name server which
was mentioned several times in this story. ..."A" root is
not special in any way. Our "F" root server receives
updates from an unrelated server called SRS which is
operated under contract from the US Department of Commerce
and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN). These updates are received by all 13 root name
servers, with "A" root a peer of the other 12, having no
special capability or importance. If any one of these 13
servers (including "A" root) were temporarily unavailable
due to a failure or disaster, there would be no noticeable
impact on the Internet as a whole.
 http://www.circleid.com/article/466_0_1_0_C

ISC Changes Name to Internet Systems Consortium
Internet Systems Consortium (ISC), formerly Internet
Software Consortium, has changed its name to better reflect
the new direction of the organization. The renamed company
has expanded the mission of the original ISC to include
more focus on Global DNS operations. In addition to
developing and maintaining production quality Open Source
software, such as BIND and DHCP, ISC will now enhance the
stability of the global DNS through reliable F-root
nameserver operations and ongoing operation of a DNS crisis
coordination center, ISC's OARC for DNS; and further
protocol development efforts, particularly in the areas of
DNS evolution and facilitating the transition to IPv6.
 http://www.circleid.com/article/465_0_1_0_C

New Instance of DNS Root Server Makes Internet History
For the first time in Internet history the number of
instances of DNS root servers outside the United States has
overtaken the number within. The balance was tipped by the
recent launch in Frankfurt of an anycast instance of the
RIPE NCC operated K-root server. The K-root server is one
of the 13 DNS root servers that resolve lookups for domain
names all over the world and form a critical part of the
global Internet infrastructure. The K-root server has been
operated by the RIPE NCC since 1997 when the first server
was installed at the London Internet Exchange (LINX) in
London, UK.
 http://www.circleid.com/article/464_0_1_0_C

Fee for dot ie address reduced by 10pc
The IE Domain Registry (IEDR), the company which manages
the registration of the .ie domain names on the internet,
has reduced its annual fee for the .ie address by 10pc.

http://www.unison.ie/business/stories.php3?ca=147&si=1116132

Rough and ready justice?
Back in 1996, before the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy
(UDRP) for Domain Names was thought of, cybersquatters
seemingly had a free hand to run roughshod over legitimate
businesses' trademarks. It was common for brand-owners who
were slow off the mark to register their preferred domains
to find those domains offered to them at an extortionate
price by a cybersquatter. Partly out of embarrassment, but
mainly because we lawyers could not offer a 'quick fix' or
even a guarantee that a transfer could be quickly and
cheaply made, many paid up and got on with business.
Harrods had a victory in snaffling harrods.com from a rogue
registrant following court action. However, this was not a
test case as the registrant failed to show up to court!
 http://www.idg.com.hk/cw/readstory.asp?aid=20040128004

NITPA Lauds Presidency Over .ng Resolution
Nigerian Information Technology (IT) Professionals in the
Americans (NITPA) has reacted to the recent developments on
the .ng country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) controversy
and have lauded the Presidency for intervening and nipping
the issue in the bud.
 http://allafrica.com/stories/200401300494.html

uk: Nominet UK's 'gotcha' clause
Nominet UK, the exclusive registrar for UK domain names,
announced some time ago that it would begin charging
registrants—those who register domain names—£15 + VAT
(around $32) per domain name to amend the details of their
ISP. One might wish to do this when the ISP cannot or will
not make the change through 'automation' either because
they have gone out of business or through simple
bloody-mindedness, though there are other scenarios in
which you might like to make a change.

http://officialspin.com/main.php?action=recent&rid=1247Ripe:
New Instance of DNS Root Server Makes Internet History
For the first time in Internet history the number of
instances of DNS root servers outside the United States has
overtaken the number within. The balance was tipped by the
recent launch in Frankfurt of an anycast instance of the
RIPE NCC operated K-root server
(http://k.root-servers.org).
 http://www.ripe.net/ripencc/kroot-history-20040127.html

Ripe: Real Progress for DNS Security
Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. (ISC) together with
NL.net Labs and the RIPE NCC sponsored a workshop last week
resulting in real progress on the long awaited DNS Security
standards.
 http://www.ripe.net/ripencc/dnssec-20040128.html

Injunction Remains in Register.com Whois Marketing Case
A federal appeals court has upheld a preliminary injunction
in a 3-year-old case involving the use of the Internet's
database of domain name registrants for marketing purposes.
 http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1474748,00.asp
 http://thewhir.com/marketwatch/reg012904.cfm

Register.com claims court win in Whois Mining case

http://www.datamonitor.com/~cee99d249a484e549a857645f66d3c5a~/all/news/product.asp?pid=87BFC7E0-E4CB-4809-8767-18CEE9D324CC

Verio Barred from Using Deceptive Marketing Tactics and
from Abusing Register.com's Whois Database
Register.com, Inc., a leading provider of global domain
name registration and Internet services, today announced
that the United States Court of Appeals for the Second
Circuit affirmed the preliminary injunction granted by the
United States District Court, Southern District of New
York, against Verio, Inc., a Colorado-based web hosting
company and subsidiary of NTT Communications.

http://new.stockwatch.com/swnet/newsit/newsit_newsit.aspx?bid=U-b005795-U:RCOM-20040128

us: Abortion Activist Accused of Cybersquatting by W.Va.
Paper
A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Monday
against an anti-abortion protester accused of
cybersquatting by the parent company of the Charleston
(W.Va.) Daily Mail.

http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=2076921

Dutch judge bars Lindows name
After Finland and Sweden, Linux vendor Lindows.com Inc. now
is also barred from using the Lindows name in Belgium, the
Netherlands and Luxembourg because the name looks too much
like Microsoft Corp.'s Windows.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/01/29/HNlindowsbarred_1.html
 http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/35221.html
 http://news.com.com/2100-7344_3-5151087.html

ICANN letter to the NRO regarding the proposed new Address
Supporting Organization Memorandum of Understanding

http://www.icann.org/correspondence/icann-to-nro-29jan04.pdf

ICANN: New sTLD Application - Responses to Questions
The following are responses to a selection of the questions
received concerning the New sTLD Application by 30 January
2004 at stldquestions§icann.org. A second set of questions
and answers will be posted very shortly. Additional
questions and answers may be posted through the duration of
the question period, which ends 27 February 2004.
 http://www.icann.org/tlds/new-stld-rfp/questions.htm

ICANN: Clarification of Legal Issues from ccNSO Launching
Group Questions
The ccNSO Launching Group forwarded a set of questions it
had received from the community, requesting clarification
of legal issues surrounding the ccNSO. Please find below my
response to these questions.
 http://ccnso.icann.org/correspondence/icann-to-ccnso-28jan04.html

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