Law

European Union Wants to Fix the GDPR

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was adopted in 2016 and has since become the global standard for privacy regulation. The GDPR has been a watershed moment in tech regulation, requiring companies to ask for consent to collect data online and threatening hefty fines if they don't comply. more

Blockchain Domains and What They Could Mean for Online Scams and Brand Protection

Blockchain domain names, domains that are stored on blockchain or cryptocurrency exchanges, are part of a growing, unregulated, and decentralized internet. Right now, blockchain domains are used mostly by cryptocurrency users, but they are growing in popularity - the Ethereum name service reported over 2.2 million .eth domain name registrations in 2022. At the same time, crypto scams are also exploding, reaching a total of $3.5 billion in losses in 2022. more

Independent Study Shows Very Low Number of Geographical Indications Disputes Within European Domain Names

The EU is reforming its legal framework concerning geographical indications (GI) protection and has put forward provisions expanding GI protection to domain names in two recent legislative proposals concerning agricultural products and craft/industrial products. In order to support greater GI protection on the internet, both proposals mandate the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to establish a "domain name information and alert system." more

Does the UDRP Interfere With Free Speech Rights? – The StopSpectrum.com Decision

How to properly balance the commercial rights of a complainant with the free speech rights of a respondent has challenged a generation of Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) panelists. Panelists have adopted a variety of approaches and consensus has been elusive. Paragraph 4(c)(iii) of the Policy provides that a respondent may have a right or legitimate interest in a disputed domain name... more

Reusing Existing Easements for Building New Fiber Networks

Casey Lide and Thomas B. Magee of Keller & Heckman highlight an issue that anybody building fiber on utility poles should be aware of. A recent article on their website notes that in some cases, an easement obtained for using private land to bring electric service might not automatically allow an easement for bringing fiber. more

Calculating the Return on Investment of Online Brand Protection Projects

In the early days of Online Brand Protection (OBP), before it was commonly understood how damaging to revenue infringements could be, this was an extremely popular topic. I remember delivering webinars on the subject then and even running a couple of half-day in-person workshops for brand owners at major conferences. more

The UDRP “Celebrates” Its 500th Reverse Domain Name Hijacking Case

Today, for the 500th time, an expert panel under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy or "UDRP", issued a decision finding a Complainant guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking or "RDNH". RDNH is an attempt to egregiously misuse the UDRP to unjustly seize a domain name from its lawful owner... To-date, the UDRP has adjudicated over 80,000 domain name disputes. The vast majority of them result in the transfer of a cybersquatted domain name to the rightful trademark owner. more

Who Is Driving Buzz and Engagement With NFTs?

Marketers far and wide have piled onto the non-fungible token (NFT) craze. To some great success and fanfare, NFTs are being used to promote and monetize media, goods, and services in almost every segment. Media, Fashion, Entertainment, Sports, Gaming, Art, Beverage, Consumer Goods, Financial, and even Enterprise Software companies are getting into the mix. This brief review examines why, how, and where marketers are using NFTs, how NFTs are being abused and gives high-level advice to marketers and brand protection professionals. more

Court’s Analysis in ACPA Case Is Instructive on How to Plead Bad Faith Domain Name Registration

NameFind is a GoDaddy company that holds registrations of domain names and seeks to make money off of them by placing pay-per-click ads on parked pages found at the domain names. Global Licensing owns the DEJA VU trademark that is used in connection with strip clubs and other adult-related services. When NameFind used the domain name dejavushowgirls.com to set up a page of pay-per-click ads, Global Licensing sued, raising claims under the federal Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), 15 U.S.C. 1125(d). more

Watch the Online Events Series on “Digital Citizenship and Bill of Rights”

DataPrivacyBR and the Internet Integrity Task Force, IITF, in collaboration with CircleID and IGF recently held 2 online events focusing on digital citizenship, governance, and a digital bill of rights and responsibilities. A diverse group of high-level presenters and speakers spanning all stakeholder groups, addressed questions such as: What are the foundational principles that define and protect the rights and responsibilities of digital citizenship? Do existing internet governance models take digital rights sufficiently into account? Are there alternatives to business models that are based on digital exploitation and servitude? Why do we need a digital Bill of Rights and Responsibilities and how can it be created? more

Content Blocking at the DNS Level in Germany

For those who follow the issue of blocking illegal content from the Internet, there is an interesting development in relation to this issue here in Germany, and I will tell you a little about it. One way to make it difficult to access illegal content is to block it directly in the DNS. But what is DNS for? Basically, it serves to translate the domain name into the IP of the server that is hosting the content. By blocking directly at the DNS level, a query to a domain will no longer bring the server's IP number, and with that, the user no longer accesses that content. more

Searching for the Meaning of “Registers” in the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA)

Where outcomes depend on a word’s meaning, the first task is to define it. “Registers” which is one of the keywords in the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), is still in the process of definition. Its statutory context provides that a domain name registrant is liable to the owner of a mark if “it has a bad faith intent to profit from that mark … and (ii) registers, traffics in, or uses a domain name [corresponding to a mark] that … is distinctive at the time of registration of the domain name [and] is identical or confusingly similar to that mark. more

What Due Diligence Satisfies Domain Name Registrant’s Representations (UDRP)?

Not infrequently mark owners in disputes under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) claim that respondents should have been aware that the domain names they registered corresponded to their marks; and from this, urge panelists to draw the inference that the registrations were designed to take advantage of their goodwill and reputation. To test this premise, we need to take a step back for a quick look at UDRP provisions. All it takes to acquire a domain name is to sign a registrar’s registration agreement. more

Offering Price as Evidence of Bad Faith Domain Name Registration: A False (UDRP) Factor

I have pointed out in earlier posts that some panelists disapprove of the business of speculating in domain names. There have been a succession of decisions expressing this view beginning with <crew.com> discussed below. Forfeiture has been justified with a mixture of theories. If the offering price is allegedly "excessive" or the domain name is passively held, or the respondent has renewed its registration after the mark is first used in commerce, the panelists find respondents have engaged in unlawful conduct and must forfeit their domain names. more