Wow! Massively extended TM / copyright 'enforcement' planned.

mcfox Wind Maker

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Received this letter from Sedo today saying there is a bill in motion ostensibly to protect consumers from 'phishing' but within the fine print lies the ability for big business to massively extend their reach to snatch legitimate domains from unsuspecting owners.

As a founding member of the Internet Commerce Association, Sedo believes that it is important to invest our resources in ensuring the long term health and viability of the domain name market and the business of traffic monetization. Whether you buy and sell domains for your business, maintain a portfolio of domain properties, or simply enjoy the use of domain names for personal websites or blogs, a threat has emerged to domain ownership and it is time for interested individuals and businesses to protect our rights.

As you may have already read in the news or on a forum, a bill was recently introduced in the United States Senate by Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) that aims to drastically and needlessly expand the scope of rights associated with a trademark outside the realm of traditional trademark law. The Anti-Phishing Consumer Protection Act of 2008, or the Snowe bill as it is referred to, appears on its face to be directed to fighting the practice of â€œphishingâ€, which is a worthwhile cause, but contains many elements completely unrelated to this purpose, such as creating a cause of action for displaying advertising on a generic or descriptive domain name simply because another company has registered rights to a similar word or phrase.

If this bill is passed by Congress and signed by the President, it would immediately arm large businesses and government agencies with the ability to claim countless valuable and legitimate domains from their current owners. Supported by the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA), a coalition of companies that include Verizon, AIG, Dell, and several large hotel chains, the Snowe bill is attempting to confuse the issue of malicious phishing scams with the lawful and legitimate business of buying, selling and monetizing domain names.

By removing many of the intended checks and balances of traditional trademark law, designed to ensure that trademark rights are limited by geography and class of goods and services, the Snowe bill is attempting to eliminate many of the roadblocks large companies have faced in their attempt to gain de facto monopoly rights on words that rightfully belong to the public domain. Furthermore, the absence of due process principles make it likely that valuable domain properties could be taken from their rightful owner due only to a vague resemblance to anotherâ€™s mark.

I encourage all Sedo users and domain owners anywhere to help fight the Snowe bill by joining the Internet Commerce Association, a non-profit industry organization founded to help represent domain name investors and developers and the direct search industry. The Internet Commerce Association is comprised of responsible businesses and individuals who have joined together to improve public confidence in internet commerce. Based in Washington D.C., their mission is to promote and share best practices among participants in the domain name industry and to educate consumers, policy makers, law makers and the media about the value and benefits of direct navigation traffic and the domain name industry.

Please visit www.internetcommerce.org to learn more about the Snowe bill and how you can support the ICA in our effort to fight its passage.
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mcfox, Mar 11, 2008 IP

Smyrl and it career like this.

it career Notable Member

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#2

Oh no, all small domain portfolio owners like me will go out of domain business then, did some big company bribe him to bring such crap law?

it career, Mar 11, 2008 IP

mcfox Wind Maker

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#3

It's not just small domain portfolio holders who will be affected. This has implications for every webmaster everywhere.

mcfox, Mar 11, 2008 IP

kohashi Well-Known Member

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#4

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=738699

Glad people are getting on the ball, especially Sedo since they are founding members of ICA.

kohashi, Mar 11, 2008 IP

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Wow! Massively extended TM / copyright 'enforcement' planned.

mcfox Wind Maker

it career Notable Member

mcfox Wind Maker

kohashi Well-Known Member

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