International Domain Names (IDN) UDRP Policy ... how is name confusion handled?

[Domagon]

How are confusingly similar International Domain Names (IDNs) handled with under the current UDRP framework?

Nice lookup tool at the url below, but it doesn't seem to really address the confusion/spoofing issue ...

http://www.verisign.com/products-ser...ge_001490.html

For example, take amazon.com ... they alone would have to register literally dozens of combinations of that domain to protect it from folks registering variations with like ã, â, à, etc ... see url below for more!

http://www.blooberry.com/indexdot/ht...ity224-255.htm

And that is just in one part of one character set - imagine how many more confusingly similar variations there could be in others!

IDNs make spoofing / phishing way too easy - I can't imagine this being permitted to go on for long ...

I'm sure soon many security software programs will simply block/filter and/or display the ascii punycode instead, but what is ICANN going to do?

I fear the recent listings at Afternic are an examples of what's to come - confusion, spoofing, fraud, etc ...

http://www.afternic.com/
(look at listings closing soon; many are IDNs)

http://www.sedo.com/
(they've long allowed IDNs and it sure is confusing - even their own search software seems to have trouble with them ... imagine the confusion non-computer literate folks are going to run into with IDNs)

An example of the mass confusion coming ... ie. CNÑ.com

http://www.thenewdotcom.net/

Ron

[Acro]

I think IDN should have been banned in the first place. It's the most stupid idea since the invention of cottage cheese.

[dtobias]

I think IDN should have been banned in the first place. It's the most stupid idea since the invention of cottage cheese.

If your native language used non-ASCII characters, maybe you'd feel differently.

[Acro]

That's not a major problem - 98% of the world uses Microsoft Windows with multi-language support. The web is multi-lingual as well. Why do we need to type in domains in the local language? The 'geniuses' that came up with that idea had no clue how it affects the marketability of those IDN-hosted pages. In effect, the Internet becomes segregated because search engines don't spider those domains.

[Domagon]

If your native language used non-ASCII characters, maybe you'd feel differently.

A possible compromise would be for IDN registrations that are *similar-looking* to existing registrations, including other IDNs, to be *forbidden*; require manual review for potentially confusing registrations.

Ron

[jberryhill]

http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/deci...2000-0320.html
"Président" is a registered trademark of the Complainant.

In view of the above, the Administrative Panel finds that the Domain Name is identical to the trademark "Président" of the Complainant. Indeed, with regard to the fact that the character "é" cannot be a part of a domain name, the only possibility to reflect the term "Président" in a domain name is by using the term "president".

[Acro]

Nice one John :-D

[mkx]

Does google filter out IDN's some how? I find it tough to beleive that ãmazon has the same results on google as amazon. Can these type of IDN's be used as a SEO tool?