The decision has been reached in the LH.com UDRP filing which pitted Future Media Architects up against airline giant Lufthansa. Unfortunately for the Respondent FMA, the domain was ordered to be transferred to Lufthansa, which seems to be a terrible decision, in my opinion. How one company can claim the rights to owning a two letter domain name is beyond me. According to AcronymFinder.com, there are 38 listed meanings for the “LH” acronym, and there are countless businesses who have LH as their initials.
This case is far from over, however, as FMA filed a preemptive lawsuit against Lufthansa in case they lost the domain name via UDRP. It will be interesting to see how this case gets resolved, but as of now, Lufthansa won the first battle for LH.com.
It’s times like these that I wish the Internet Commerce Association had more support and was able to help domain registrants fight large corporate entities. At the moment, we are like a herd of deer being chased down by a hungry lion. The individual chances of one of us getting picked off by the lion are slim in a herd of hundreds of deer, but the likelihood of one deer getting killed is great.
Friends, we need to be like the Water Buffalo in this thrilling video. While the pride of Lions (and even the hungry crocodile) are trying to kill a young water buffalo, the herd returns to save him. As domain investors, we need to put individual squabbles aside and realize that a united and active group of self-protective domain owners can help stave off large corporations. The Snowe Bill was just one thing that threatens our industry. In the months ahead, we will certainly face other obstacles, and it is important that we help each other.
We are a small industry, but we wield tremendous power. Individually, it might be difficult to take on the wealthy corporate powers who want nothing more than to take generic domain names for a song. As a united group, we can stop them. It’s time to stop looking after our individual assets alone and to unify and help protect the domain investment industry.
LH.com – A Scary Decision
Two Important UDRP Decisions
Domain Name Wire is reporting on two important UDRP decisions that were announced in the past two days. Shoppers.com and Ace.com were both retained by the current owners after large companies filed a complaint for each of these (clearly) generic domain names. It’s great to see good UDRP decisions go in favor of a generic domain owner.
Shame on the legal eagles who thought they could take possession of these two domain names simply because they had a mark for each of these terms. Hopefully other law firms will read up on these decisions before filing a UDRP for a generic domain name.
New Term Based on Trademark
I was talking with a friend today about a product/treatment that has become super-popular in the US. Jokingly, I added an -ing to the end of the term, and it sounded like it could be a commonly used term. In fact, I may have heard it used before, which is why I thought of it in the first place There are close to 5,000 Google hits for the exact word that I thought I just made up. Out of curiosity, I did a Whois search, and the new term is available in the .com.
When it comes to trademarks, I stay as far away as possible from registering non-generic terms or phrases. At what point does a trademark become a common term and acceptable to use? As much as “Googling” someone is a common term, they actively protect their trademark, and I know this factors into trademark law. I am not going to register the name, but am interested in knowing what the legalities are.
Electronic Frontier Foundation Opposes Snowe Legislation
As first reported by Mike and Sahar, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has voiced their opposition to the recently proposed Snowe APCPA legislation. According to their official website, the EFF is a non-profit organization that “has championed the public interest in every critical battle affecting digital rights.”
From what I have been reading elsewhere, not only would this proposed bill be detrimental to small businesses who own domain names, but it could also hurt the First Amendment rights of Americans who express their view on the Internet. As people continue to examine this bill and its implications, I hope they realize just how impactful this would be on anonymous free speech and domain ownership.
Report: Snowe Bill "Trademark Legislation on Steroids"
From ComputerWorld:
“An antiphishing bill that was introduced in the U.S. Senate last week could end up being used by large holders of trademarks to unfairly wrest legitimate domain names away from small businesses and individuals, according to a trade group that represents domain name investors and so-called direct search companies.“
Check out ComputerWorld for the entire article.
I have spent thousands of dollars developing my domain names in addition to the cost of acquiring these names, and this bill has the potential to make it easy for companies to take them from me without much trouble. I have been careful acquiring domain names that do not infringe on the marks of other companies, but in the end, I could get burned because of this legislation. It simply isn’t fair to small-time entrepreneurs like myself.
From what I can tell, the Internet Commerce Association is our best chance at getting the bill changed. They have a great staff working to protect the rights of people in the domain industry, and we need to support them. Please consider becoming a member of the ICA or making a (tax deductible) contribution. Now is the time we need to step up and organize.
Cuba-Related Websites Shutdown; Domains Taken
In this morning’s New York Times, there’s an article about an English travel agent who owned several Cuba-related domain names which were shut down by his registrar eNom, due to their listing on the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). While owning and operating these websites on his own soil is legal, since they were being managed by eNom, a US-based domain registrar, eNom had to take possession of the domain names and essentially put the owner out of business.
While I am not going to debate the merits of this decision by the Treasury Department, I do think it is important for everyone to take a few moments and check to see where their domain registrar is located. Just a few months ago, a similar situation occurred with Internet gaming giant Bodog, whose domain names were taken and awarded to a litigant who filed suit in the US. While the situation was different then, it still shows that a US government decision or a ruling in a US court could potentially lead to losing domain names.
When doing business in another country, it is important to know that country’s laws related to your business. Since many non-Americans who own domain names are doing business with American-based companies, it is important to know US law when it comes to domain names and online activities. If you should have any questions related to domain name law, I urge you to contact an attorney.