“A, B, C,…as easy as 1, 2, 3?” That remains to be seen. BMW may be driving Google down a bumpy road named Trademark-Infringement Lane, after Google surprised everyone on August 10th with the creation of a new company, Alphabet. I say this because the trademark “Alphabet” and the domain name alphabet.com are currently owned by German automobile-manufacturer BMW. Following the announcement, BMW reportedly […]
Has Amazon, the hero of online shopping and home of the Kindle, become the newest provider of pay-per-view porn? According to WREAL, the company behind the adult entertainment streaming device and website FyreTV®, this is just a taste of the confusion apparently created by the launch of Amazon’s similarly named Fire TV. Consequently, attorneys on […]
In March 2014, a single member Canadian Internet Registry Association (CIRA) panel allowed the transfer of two domain names which consisted, in both cases, of the personal names of people involved in a dispute with an unsatisfied former customer. The decision of the panel could preserve individual privacy rights online. It also serves to protect […]
There is a little-known place in the world where you can approach absolutely anyone—a Brazilian federal minister or WIPO legal officer; a policy manager at Google or the world's leading cybersecurity expert; an Indonesian LGBT activist or Pakistani digital rights advocate; or someone at some intersection of civil society, government, business, academia, law, technology, or […]
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has rejected the Legal Rights Objection (LRO) of the Canadian Real Estate Association of Ottawa to the registration of the generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) .mls by Afilias Limited. While the WIPO Panel acknowledged that while the Association possesses a valid legal right to the term "MLS", they found it was […]
As of July 25th, WIPO has rejected all of the first 14 Legal Rights Objections (LRO) filed in response to applications for the registration of new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs). While there are still over 50 Objections yet to be decided, the rejection of all the objections so far have some commentators beginning to question the effectiveness of the process.
A "gripe site" is a web site established to criticize an institution such as a corporation, union, government body, or political figure. Not surprisingly, powerful institutions often do not take kindly to being criticized, and they have invented a variety of ways to try to suppress the speech of their adversaries. - The Public Citizen[1]
One of the primary discussion topics at ICANN 45 in Toronto concerned the implementation of new gTLDs and the effects the new processes would have on the rights holders of various trade-marks.
Turns out the internet isn’t all about porn. Just kidding, it mostly is. But underneath the debate sparked by the .XXX domain question at last week’s international website regulatory conference are a series of fundamental issues about internet freedom of expression, the process for determining what new URLs will be on offer, the tension between […]
Canada, the public interest, internationalization and operational efficiency were the overarching themes at the ICANN 45 Opening Ceremonies and President’s Opening Session on Monday.