On Fri, 3 May 2002, Jim Davidson wrote:
> > As a propertarian, I strongly believe that life, liberty, > and property are elements of the same thing. > > Good luck in your fight to get your good name back. > The only way he would have to fight to get his name back is if somebody somehow hijacked goldnow.st. That somebody else is using the words "gold" and "now" in another domain name constitutes "theft" is akin to your naming one of your kids the same name as what I already named mine constitutes "kidnapping". I've kept my mouth shut for most of this thread, but I have a lot of experience in domain name matters, I'll give it to everyone straight, from both a practical and procedural standpoint. The only thing that matters in a domain name dispute is trademark, period. If somebody goes out and registers mark-jeftovic-is-a-goof.com, I may have a beef but I don't have a leg to stand on no matter what. The *only* way I get my hands on that name or get "them" to stop using it is IFF I have "mark-jeftovic-is-a-goof" TRADEMARKED. Notice that I refer to the entire phrase, not just my name. So Graham, if you have a trademark on "GoldNow", that is your only recourse on anyone operating a "goldnow" domain inside a TLD that adheres to the ICANN UDRP, and only "goldnow" domains, "anygoldnow" is a different mark. You would probably lose a URDP proceeding as did Porsche under similar circumstances (who tried to shutdown everyone with the string "porsche" in their domain name, "porsche-fan", "porsche-buyer" etc.) In practical terms, .COM is king. If you plan on staking a business on it, then buy or register the .com and commence trademark proceedings. You probably also want the .NET/.ORG .BIZ and .INFO as well if you take it that seriously. In other words, sitting over there on your .ST domain name expecting everyone to stay off the phrase in .com/.net/.org/etc is delusional. I'm not telling you whether you are "right" or "wrong" but rather how it is. Pick up a copy of Rony & Rony's "Domain Name Handbook" (http://domainhandbook.com IIRC) and check out some of the previous disputes, what has succeeded and what has failed. This list has a heavy libertarian bent, as such you will praobably all be dismayed to know that a judge in the US has ruled that domain names are not property. Those who still consider them as such despite this (I consider them more akin to "right-of-way" through a given namespace) can only keep up the property argument if you treat it as "intellectual property" (who has a HUGE lobby pulling the strings of the entire industry) but you have no standing in that light without trademark. There is only one other way that I know of to deal with like-sounding domain "infringers" in the absence of trademark or other recourse: run a better business, provide better service and defeat them on the field of competition. In the end that's more important than everything else I've said in this post. regards, mark -- Quality aftermarket domains at http://www.eliteNIC.com 10% off when remitting via e-gold --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
