Hi all

I'm having another day off from the news tomorrow...

David

False Web Registration Ban Targets Scam Artists (Newsbytes)
Legislation that would criminalize the submission of false
information when registering Web addresses is designed to target
online criminals, not ordinary Internet users who make mistakes on
their registration forms, supporters of the bill said.
 http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176407.html
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41467-2002May6.html

Bill Would Criminalize False Domain Name Registrations (Newsbytes)
Internet users who knowingly submit incorrect contact information
when registering Web addresses could face up to five years in jail
under legislation introduced in the House of Representatives this
week.
 http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176371.html
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28812-2002May3.html
 http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-900448.html
 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-900342.html
 http://www.lextext.com/coble.pdf

Dot-Com Still the Main Domain (Wired)
Last autumn, when registrars introduced the first new top-level
domains in 15 years, no one expected suffixes like dot-biz and
dot-info to prove any real match for the all-pervasive dot-com.
 http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,52274,00.html

Dot-Com Death March Thinning Out - Report (Newsbytes)
For the fifth month in a row the number of dot-com failures declined
amid signs that the Internet sector shakeout is on the wane, a report
said today.
 http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176390.html

Dispute over 'kr' Internet domains intensifying (Korea Herald)
Korea's major Internet domain operators have been entangled in a
dispute over the much-coveted "kr" domains, marring the country's
image as a frontrunner in broadband and Internet businesses. 

http://www.koreaherald.com/SITE/data/html_dir/2002/05/04/200205040011.asp


Internet Domain Dispute Escalating (Korea Herald)
The general public is unhappy with the flurry of disputes surrounding
the ``.kr'' domain.
 http://www.korealink.co.kr/kt_tech/200205/t2002050317404945110.htm

Australian Domain Name Seller Makes Promises (Newsbytes)
Australia-based domain name seller Internet Name Group today said it
has made commitments regarding its marketing practices after the
nation's consumer watchdog took the company to court alleging "false
or misleading representations."
 http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176376.html

http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/ebusiness/story/0,2000024981,20265051,00.htm

Porn sites take over domains (Australian IT)
THE dotcom collapse has generated a new website protection racket,
enabling online pornographers to re-register lapsed internet domains
for publishing sexually explicit content.

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,4266545%5e16123%5e%5enbv%5e,00.html

Court Decision On Domain Name Dispute (from Baker & McKenzie E-Law
Alert)
The Superior Court of the State of Săo Paulo has issued a decision
favorable to one of the largest Brazilian banks with respect to a
domain name dispute. The case is the first one in Brazil that
analyzes the legal basis applicable to domain name and trademark
disputes. The Court has ruled that a Brazilian company, which had
registered the disputed domain name, infringed the trademark rights
of the plaintiff and must immediately cease any and all use of the
domain name, being subject to a R$ 5,000 penalty per day in case of
non-compliance with the judicial order.

Welcome to Our Law School, Young Man. We'll See You in Court (New
York Times) 
Louisiana law school is giving one of its students an unusually
comprehensive legal education. In addition to offering him the
standard classes and exams, it is suing him.
The dispute centers on a Web site maintained by Douglas Dorhauer, a
student at the Paul M. Herbert Law Center at Louisiana State
University in Baton Rouge. The site is called lsulaw.com, and it
includes a school calendar, law-related links and comments by Mr.
Dorhauer, some of them critical of the law school.
 http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/06/national/06LSU.html
 
Courts to settle Web domain name disputes (Gulf News)
Local courts will have a bigger role in settling Web domain name
disputes following major changes brought to the existing framework,
said a senior Etisalat official. The prime criteria will be that the
domain name must have 'ae' in it.
 http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=49681

Though Network Solutions Apparently Likes DOT-BZ (from BNA Internet
Law News)
Thanks to an ILN reader for pointing out an interesting registration
in the dot-bz domain (the Belize domain). Neulevel.bz, which looks
very similar to the official neulevel.biz, is actually registered to
competitor Network Solutions, which points the domain to Afilias, the
dot-info registrar. Belize has adopted the ICANN UDRP -- no word on
whether NSI will find itself subject to a claim for what looks like a
bad faith registration. Whois record at:

http://www.belizenic.bz/cgi-bin/Registrar?action=whois&action2=whois&domain=neulevel.bz

WWF Admits Defeat In Fight For Logo, Net Domain (Newsbytes)
New monikers may be old hat for the World Wrestling Federation. The
wrestler Tugboat became Typhoon. Stunning Steve Austin became Stone
Cold Steve Austin. The federation itself was officially known as
Titan Sports Inc. at the same time that wrestlers like Hulk Hogan
(Terry Bollea) were beginning to make the initials WWF - with the
first W standing for "Worldwide" then - a household fixture.
 http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176425.html
 http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article/0,,3_1038611,00.html
 http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/3209774.htm

www.goinglikehotcakes.us (IT World)
Over 250,000 .us domain names have been snapped up since their launch
last week but registrars have been criticised for their poor control
over allocation.
 http://www.itworld.com/Man/3827/020503domain/

La OMPI da la razón a France Telecom en la disputa del dominio
'www.francetelecom.com' (delitosinformaticos.com)
El Centro de Mediación y Arbitraje de Dominios de la Organización
Mundial de Propiedad Intelectual (OMPI) ha dado la razón a la empresa
France Telecom en la demanda interpuesta contra un grupo de usuarios
denominado "Grupo de Usuarios de France Telecom" possedor del dominio
'www.francetelecom.com'.
 http://www.delitosinformaticos.com/noticias/102053458185383.shtml

An Assessment of ICANN's Mandatory Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy
in Resolving Disputes Over Domain Names (Journal of Information, Law
and Technology)
The UDRP constitutes a major step forward in Internet governance.
Although not without its shortcomings, analyzed within the ambit of
its objectives, the Policy has succeeded in most respects. It has
allowed trademark holders to recover domain names held by
cybersquatters in a cost and time effective manner. At the same time,
the UDRP has provided a relatively level playing field for
combatants, as many disputes involve contests between 'Davids' and
'Goliaths', but without the certainty that Goliath will prevail.
Suspect UDRP decisions are primarily anomalies, although forum
shopping remains a legitimate concern. With time and a little
fine-tuning, the UDRP will undoubtedly serve as a model for future
initiatives to regulate conduct on the Internet. (This may have been
in the news a few months ago).
 http://elj.warwick.ac.uk/jilt/01-3/hancock.html

For ICANN§Large members...
The newly elected panel for icannatlarge.com has set up a mailing
list for general discussion about the At Large issues, open not just
to its members but to anyone interested. That mailing list aims to be
a prompt replacement of the current ALSC Forum list, which will close
in a few weeks from now, and to host the same kind of fruitful
discussion that has been characterizing it in the last two years.
We encourage you to subscribe now to the new list by sending an empty
message to atlarge-discuss-subscribe§lists.fitug.de. Archives may be
found at:
 http://www.fitug.de/atlarge-discuss.
At the same time, the panel has set up two other lists:
- an announcement list for internal communication to all icannatlarge
com members who opted in at registration;
- a panel list for internal discussion and voting among panel
members.

Both lists are publicly archived on the web at:
 http://www.fitug.de/atlarge-announce/
 http://www.fitug.de/atlarge-panel/


See http://www.alfa-redi.com/noticia/ for the web version of the
news, along with an archive.


=====
David Goldstein
post: 82 Kingston Road, Coventry CV5 6LR, UK
email: Goldstein_David§yahoo.com.au
phone: +44 24 7667 7226 (home) +44 7786 704 887 (mobile)

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