For being an innovator in the technology market, Apple is a laggard in the domain name market.
One of the biggest domain name disputes in recent memory is over iTunes.co.uk. I won’t go into the details of this dispute, but you can read my previous posts here.
Now it seems that Apple failed to register the domain IpodNano.com before announcing the new device to the world. A message on IpodNano.com says the domain is for sale, and according to WhoIs it was registered by a New York resident just a couple days ago. It is clearly a trademark infringement and Apple would easily win a WIPO decision, but that takes time.
What sort of innovative company invents products and doesn’t secure the domain names for them before they go public? Here’s an idea for Apple: when you get more than a day into product naming discussions, register all possible domain names for the product. It will cost you a few hundred bucks. Big deal. At least you won’t embarrass yourself with your next product launch.
Leroy Zicker says
definitely have got to mention you help make many great points and probably will submit a variety of tips to add on shortly after a day or two.