Martin B. Schwimmer wrote:
>One thing that I have pondered in the past five years is this: I had to
>communicate with NSI at that time in connection with this case and
>therefore I know that NSI was aware of the facts in the mtv.com case,
>specifically that someone other than the owner of a trademark like MTV
>could get the domain name, and that the TM owner's only remedy at that time
>was a lawsuit. This case was, if memory serves me correctly, before the
>Quittner article on mcdonalds.com. Virtually all cases of cyber-piracy
>came after that event. What could NSI have done differently back in 1994?
Both of these landmark cases are profiled in some detail in The Domain Name
Handbook, pages 302 - 309.
MTV came first, as Adam Curry registered the domain name in June 1993 and
MTV requested he formally surrender the name on January 19, 1994 and sued
Curry in May 1994. From my reading of the documents I could find online,
Curry registered the name because he thought it would provide an
interesting way of introducing MTVs progrmming. He incorporated it into
his on air activities, for example telling viewers that they could email
their MTV Valentine video dedications to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and their answers to
trivia questios at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Given the chain of events, there's
some evidence that MTV did not get interested in the domain name until
after Curry began attracting a high volume of visitors tothe site. MTV
could have taken a non-combative approach and said no harm, no foul, and
actually paid their former VDJ for promoting the network's activities
through this new (at the time) medium called the Internet. To my knowledge,
MTV did not challenge Metro Visions, registrant of MTV.NET or Mountain View
High School, registrant of MTVIEW.COM
Joshua Quitter, a journalist writing an article for Wired magazine at the
time, registered mcdonalds.com in July 1994 -- just to prove that he could
-- and surrendered it in January 1995. Completely different fact patterns.
Then, as now, I don't feel it is up to NSI to determine whether or not
Curry and Quittner had a legitimate right to register these domain names.
Those issues should be decided between the parties, in artitration,
mediation or the courtroom. NSI does have an obligation to ascertain any
federal or foreign government prohibitions on uses of any particular words
or names and honor those statutes. Otherwise, it should step aside and let
the slugfest between challengers and registrants resume.
Ellen Rony Co-author
The Domain Name Handbook http://www.domainhandbook.com
============================ // ================================
ISBN 0879305150 *=" ____ / +1 (415) 435-5010
[EMAIL PROTECTED] \ ) Tiburon, CA
On the Internet, // \\ no one knows you're a dog
