.Info crushes .com in devastating WIPO ruling

[Tee]

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2110412,00.html

 

A totally logical decision - hard to see how they could have come to anything different for such a generic term.

 

[Tee]

Logical yes. But that is hardly the surprise.

 

You were surprised that they didn't find "internetnews.info" an infringement of a tm on "internetnews.com"?

If they get a tm on a string including the tld, then thats the protection they get - not the the string without the tld. The tld is the part that makes it distinctive and has been determined so by the USPTO.

If they had a tm on "internet news" then that would be a diff matter and irrelevant as to whether they held the .com or not.

Its interesting that another company DOES hold a tm for just the string "internet news" (S No 75237497).

 

[Tee]

Everything you say is right I'm just surprised that wipo is ruling in this way. I think it is very good.

 

[Tee]

Mainly because you have a powerful company that could make a case that someone is attempting to potentially pass off on the name, never mind that only a url has been tm ed. Even without any kind of tm, you would think a case could be made.

I guess it does show that if you have your domain name with extension tm ed, it will mean little to wipo.

 

[Tee]

Actually, the assumed infringement would be on internet news (without the info) on internetnews.com

This case show that owning the .com gives little claim to owning anything else even with the string tm';ed. Unless of course the word is tm ed and is unique and well known.

I think this decision helps clarify things because I have heard many say that they think having the .com by right entitles them to the same name in other extensions and this decision with great precision and drama helps clarify the whole thing.

 

Yeah, its good news for .noncom holders and its something that can be pointed to if approached by a covetous party. It adds an element of doubt to the .com holders who think they have an automatic right to every tld variant.

 

[Tee]

Exactly. And I think it also makes the whole wipo process look good.

 

[mole]

Ah, I wake up to the smell of fresh coffee and the budding fragrance of .info.

 

IMO, it's circumstantial and should not be taken as a precedent for future cases. How would the WIPO rule in cases where a .NET was challenging a .info? Is there a value given to TLD's? I think not.

 

[mole]

The point is, media giants like INT Media Group are starting to take .info seriously, even if they are, as some would argue, only trying to protect their dotcom franchise.

The extension .info is not just another senseless tld like .ws or .tv, etc, etc. If used well, it can serve to underline a site's authority and provide the site with the psychological high ground on information. Many companies will realise that in the years to come. Too late, too bad.

 

yes I agree, if a tm is important, a company should register it in all the major TLD's.

 

[mole]

Originally posted by timechange
yes I agree, if a tm is important, a company should register it in all the major TLD's.

Especially .info and .biz

Those excuse prone lamer companies who couldn't be bothered to do the hard work of sunrise and LL should pay the price for it.

They put in little effort and then find their dotcom names creamed off and then protest to WIPO. :laugh:

 

And of course the same for the .US sunrise period.

 

[mole]

Yes, you'ld be surprised how inept the major companies are in getting their names on time. They think the other "guy" is doing it and so on and so on. It ends up that no one has done anything.

The US office of the international company I work for still hasn't registered the .us domain to date. But then again, we do have a tm on the company name. :dead:

 

A lot of the biggest corporations have very active and aggressive inhouse legal departments. They figure that they will just fire off c & d's to any infringers rather than spending the time to secure the domains in the first place.

 

[mole]

Good luck to them then. Domain speculators are getting a lot smarter when it comes to handling those lame c & ds.

 

[domaindirk]

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[mole]

Welcome domaindirk from icann.org forums