Saturday, January 26, 2008

Domain Names and Priority in Registration

A little over a year ago, while much of the world was waiting for the first glimpse of Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, lawyers for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were scrambling to register dozens of Internet domain names on the power couple's behalf. They managed to buy almost every domain name with a reasonable connection to Shiloh Nouvel, including the rather obvious shilohnouveljoliepitt, in an attempt to stay two steps ahead of the cyberspace entrepreneur. In fact, many Hollywood celebrities are particularly interested in owning eponymous domain names, if only to avoid potential publicity problems.

Of course, certain domain names are similarly coveted for business purposes, either because they're popular key words (i.e. shoestore.com, or chocoholics.com), or because they represent famous brand names. Shock value, or popular colloquial expressions also contribute to the mad dash of domain name registration, since owners of key domain names can earn considerable money by selling them to legitimate business enterprises, who are often at the mercy of enterprising domain name holders.

This poses serious legal questions, not only with respect to fledgling ebusinesses, but in relation to the intellectual property rights of legitimate enterprises whose trademarks or tradenames are prejudiced by the first-come, first-served registration process of domain names. Google, at least, has attempted to limit the practice of name tasting--the cancellation of registration of certain domain names within the 5-day grace period, where it appears that the domain name does not generate enough hits--by increasing the registration fees. Of course, whether existing businesses, especially those with internationally protected tradenames and trademarks, have a better right to certain inutile, registered domain names (particularly in the clear absence of good faith) remains an interesting legal issue.

For more information on the practice of name-tasting, please see:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/web_address_sampling;_ylt=AocjbRdRXOAf6EbZSJ7b3fMDW7oF

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