tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186133800077628472010-05-02T18:11:55.035-07:00Domain Name Lawyer, Zak Muscovitch, writes about domain name disputes and Internet law issues of current interest, related to http://www.DNattorney.com and http://www.muscovitch.comZak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-13519592219796104212010-05-02T18:11:00.001-07:002010-05-02T18:11:55.077-07:00

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Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-7165567991091425772010-03-24T10:14:00.000-07:002010-03-24T10:17:42.656-07:00

John Selby, with the Department of Business Law at Macquarie University in Sydney Australia, brought to my attention his truly excellent article and study of ICANN UDRP Dispute Resolution Providers. This article was published in 2004, and the concerns outlined therein are even more important today, given that the Czech Arbitration Court apparently intends to provide so-called 'fast track' UDRP's

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-18919153523165083462010-03-22T07:07:00.000-07:002010-03-22T07:07:01.756-07:00

Today I released a brief study of NAF decisions, and panelist participation levels in particular. I also created a system for people to receive NAF Case Updates in their email box, similar to the way that WIPO sends them out. Hopefully NAF will do this themselves in the future and at that time I can stop the Update service.

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-18026222000048884472010-03-01T18:43:00.000-08:002010-03-01T18:43:46.614-08:00

But its not what you think.... In this Ottawa Citizen story, Canadian, Frank Fowlie, ombudsman for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), was flying from Paris to Montreal last March when he had an angry confrontation with a flight attendant in executive class. The story states that, "He filed a complaint with the CTA, alleging Air Canada breached the terms and

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-22131302682398756022010-02-24T10:17:00.000-08:002010-02-24T10:17:11.480-08:00

Journalist Christopher Guly has written an excellent piece on the UDRP and how it is at the vanguard of online alternative dispute resolution. In this article, Mr. Guly discusses the Groovle.com case and interviews me about the case and about the UDRP.

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-68730161884610081132010-02-24T09:45:00.000-08:002010-02-24T09:45:24.044-08:00

In this concerning article from the National Post, journalist Matt Hartley, reports that Google's Canadian born CFO, Patrick Pichette, "has a unique view of the business landscape in his home country of Canada." Mr. Hartley reports that, "although Canadians spend more time online than just about any other nation in the world, advertising dollars and marketers haven't followed audiences online

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-76766473452553527312010-02-24T09:34:00.000-08:002010-02-24T09:36:09.578-08:00

WIPO UDRP Panelist, Jonathan Turner, deserves kudos for authoring a fine decision which makes excellent use of appropriate and highly relevant case law, in the aidsdrugsonline.com case (February 5, 2010). He wrote as follows in this case brought by a Canadian against a Californian, wherein the Complainant alleged that the Respondent was a "cybersquatter": "The more descriptive the term, the

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-33449109206379596182010-01-01T08:19:00.001-08:002010-01-07T15:02:29.223-08:00

You can watch the interview with Groovle.com co-founder Jacob Fuller and myself from New Year's Eve, 2009.

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-3365390992163735232009-12-29T15:25:00.000-08:002009-12-29T15:25:17.763-08:00

Just heard from the National Arbitration Forum that my clients won a great domain name dispute over GROOVLE.COM. Google had complained that my clients were "cybersquatters". The unanimous three distinguished three member panel disagreed. You can read the decision here. Congrats to Groovle.com! This was one of those rare UDRP cases where the Panel didn't even have to consider the second and

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-75929864260382587332009-12-18T12:42:00.000-08:002009-12-20T08:02:43.156-08:00

Looking forward to going to Targeted Traffic in Vegas January 21 - 23, DomainFest Global 2010 January 26-29 in Santa Monica , and Traffic again in Vancouver - June 8 - 10, 2010. Although I have been an active and somewhat accomplished domain name lawyer for 10 years, this will be my first outside-Canada domain conference. I have of course always attended Frank Michlick's DomainConvergence

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-46220920360614094932009-12-18T07:17:00.000-08:002009-12-18T07:56:19.385-08:00

For those of you who follow professional poker tournaments on television, you may recall the name of Butch Boyd, a somewhat colorful poker pro. Well, he was recently the target of a domain name cease and desist letter over the domain name, twoplustwopoker.com. The claimant is Twoplustwo.com (i.e. without the "poker" suffix), which calls itself the world's largest poker strategy and resource web

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-60438482438382033892009-11-29T08:37:00.001-08:002009-11-29T08:43:40.937-08:00

An IDNForums.com member recently asked me a good question and I took the time to answer it. I thought that I would share my answer here, although I have of course removed the specifics from the situation and changed some facts to keep things confidential. Accordingly, the domains etc. referred to below are made-up for illustrative purposes only. If anyone has any thoughts on this I would like to

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-12312640111397170232009-11-15T17:52:00.000-08:002009-11-15T17:53:39.354-08:00

One thing that we will see more often are family law disputes involving domain names. When marriages break up, family property is often divided by the court. In a recent divorce case, a Vancouver, British Columbia Supreme Court Judge heard evidence from a business valuator, whose testimony was considered expert evidence on behalf of the husband. The expert business valuator was asked by the

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-11822273314709134582009-11-10T08:31:00.000-08:002009-11-10T08:31:10.091-08:00

I commenced a lawsuit to overturn a recent UDRP decision over EHOTEL.COM. Many commentators thought that this was a grossly unfair UDRP decision and begged for an appeal. The domain name registrant was unrepresented at the UDRP. Now with a domain name lawyer, I hope that he will obtain some justice.

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-88754481401854773342009-11-09T09:25:00.000-08:002009-11-09T09:25:29.547-08:00

Congratulations to Rick Silver, who has just been appointed the new Moderator for 2010 Traffic conferences. Rick has been a good friend and client for many years and it is wonderful to see that his unique talents have been recognized. He will be a valuable addition to the conferences and a tremendous resource for domainers. PS - I will be attending my first traffic conference in Las Vegas in

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-67265765536269572662009-10-26T11:42:00.000-07:002009-11-02T08:58:32.503-08:00

Nice to see that some trademark lawyers are kept busy with doubtful domain name dispute claims. The American Automobile Association lost a domain name dispute at NAF, and now apparently pressured the registrant to hand over the domain name after commencing a Federal lawsuit. Of course AAA is more than the American Automobile Association. Just check out any yellow pages directory, such as this

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-71159349388979950472009-10-15T12:27:00.000-07:002009-10-29T07:08:35.368-07:00

The following ADNDRC press release was brought to my attention by IDNFORUMS.COM members. Announcement on Domain Name Dispute Cases Handled by The Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre (Hong Kong Office) Hong Kong. 5 October 2009 - The Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre (ADNDRC) announced today that the ADNDRC Council has formed a special committee to investigate whether, in view

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-38822111365159146142009-10-14T18:32:00.000-07:002009-10-29T07:27:09.680-07:00

Could Chris Bosh Be a Future ICANN UDRP Respondent at WIPO or NAF? So I read the news item where Toronto Raptors NBA star Chris Bosh won a judgment for $120,000 against a domainer, Luis Zavala (Hoopology.com) for registering ChrisBosh.com. The judgment apparently came down in April, but now Bosh's lawyers reportedly convinced the judge to order that the domainer's 800 other mainly sports and

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-50973526553816723912009-10-14T08:55:00.000-07:002009-10-15T04:20:20.737-07:00

The Montreal, Quebec Court released an interim and partial injunction regarding the domain name SPCA.COM according to CTV News, but the domain name registrant is allowed to keep it, at least for now, pending the outcome of a trial involving other issues such as wrongful dismissal and defamation. The domain name registrant was reportedly permitted to keep the domain name but must direct donations

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-43985280931851769232009-10-09T18:39:00.000-07:002009-10-09T20:19:44.989-07:00

Privacy Protection for domainers who have legitimate portfolios is a little like a burka on a bikini model. Although keeping one's domain name registration details private is an attractive concept and may even help wary registrants avoid imparting too much information to prospective domain name dispute claimants, in my humble opinion, the practice is a business killer in the .CA realm. As a

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-48006409668035851722009-10-09T18:20:00.000-07:002009-10-29T07:28:59.176-07:00

This should be interesting. I will check it out. See the Press Release here. The newly launched service, called Domainer`s Advantage, offers domain investors a comprehensive knowledge center.

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-88026727867890040532009-10-09T18:15:00.000-07:002009-10-09T18:22:36.104-07:00

SLIDETV.com, Inc. today declared victory in its domain name dispute with Slide, Inc. in what has been described as a modern day David vs. Goliath story. The Redwood City, California-based internet marketing company now plans to turn the drama into a feature film.....Which is strange for two reasons: First, this UDRP dispute was back in August, so its a little late to "declare victory". Second,

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-58713086164252319682009-10-07T19:04:00.000-07:002009-10-09T18:23:07.901-07:00

Just a quick note to mention that journalism student Daniel Fish wrote a piece for his student newspaper at Carleton, The Charlatan, on a recent court case involving York University and anonymous emails..."Online communication not as anonymous as it seems". I provided Daniel with some thoughts on the subject. Always glad to help students out....

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-42136449967550384722009-10-07T07:02:00.000-07:002009-10-07T10:11:25.694-07:00

Remember "Convergence"? It was the concept where all modes of communications were to become unified...., or alternatively, "media convergence is a concept in which old and new media intersect". Well, nobody announced it, but we are already there and have been for some time.... I realized this when I heard that the police are being trained by consultants about how to use social networking

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-818613380007762847.post-44807737252201953452009-10-03T06:02:00.000-07:002009-10-03T12:15:01.208-07:00

Well, that must suck for Wizz Air, the Hungarian discount airliner..... Panelist Sebastian Hughes provided an exceptionally well-reasoned and fair decision in a Complaint brought by the airliner against Texas Wizzair critic, Holden Thomas, proprietor of WizzAirSucks.com. Although the Panelist found that, "the addition of the word “sucks” as a suffix in the disputed domain name does little to

Zak Muscovitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424149765617740825zak@muscovitch.com0