DNForum cracks down on trademarked domains
Tuesday, November 14th, 2006
DNForum, the largest online forum for domain name owners, is cracking down on trademark-infringing domains sold on its site.
Last week the forum announced that it will begin deleting posts for selling “obvious” trademarks and trademark typos, such as mikrosoft.com or samsunng.com. Sales of trademarks and trademark typos have been rampant on DNForum and I suspect the heat has been on owner Adam Dicker to stop this. In some ways DNForum could be compared to the old Napster, in which the company enabled copyright infringement.
Another factor that may have contributed to the move by DNForum is that threads and posts on the forum were being used as evidence in UDRP cases. This should send a message to domainers involved in the “gray area” of the business — lawyers are now paying attention to what goes on in these forums. What you say can and will be used against you.
Another key cleanup in the domain world occurred this week as domain aftermarket Afternic cleansed its database of vice names including adult and gambling. I predict other changes are afoot as the domain industry becomes more mainstream:
-Parking services cracking down on trademarks and trademark typos
-Domain listing services cracking down on trademarks, trademark typos, and gambling
-Yahoo and Google cracking down on trademarks and trademark typos
Do you see a theme here?
Other than trying to avoid being on the wrong side of a lawsuit, companies that hope to be acquired or form partnerships with mainstream companies must clean up their act. On the gambling side, major online poker and gambling companies have seen their businesses shattered overnight as the United States has cracked down on internet gambling.
But vice domain owners need not worry, there will still be an outlet for these domains. In fact, Moniker is extending its famous domain auctions by adding adult-only auctions at upcoming adult entertainment conferences.
Yes, but will the listing services and other domain industry websites become “TM” regulators and censors that push the limits of fairness? Where do they draw the line? I had a domain name that had the word “las vegas” in it and it was banned initially by Afternic, until I appealed and they saw it was a real estate domain.
So what is the rating system these companies are going to use to censor domainers’ names? Is it just a software filter? A team of legal experts? The Christian Coalition?
http://www.domainrelevance.com
Afternic made a few mistakes with their filtering, but overall I think it was OK. For example, they pulled “WeScore.com”, which is a soccer related domain.
It will be interesting to watch this over the next few months…
Afternic’s selection procedure for name-culling
seems to be about as accurate as their domain
appraisal algorithms. I had a fashion name with ‘tween’ in it banned, as well as a financial
name with ‘mate’ in it also banned. Well done
Afternic. To make it even more hilarious, both
were amongst a group of names I deleted from
Afternic listing some time ago. Digging up the
graves to tell the corpses they were dead ?
It does seem like it was done rather quickly and in haste. Makes me wonder if they were trying to make some deadline. Perhaps they are gearing up to be acquired?
I am waiting for someone to create the “Gambling, Porn and Trademark Domain Forum and Marketplace”.
You probably won’t get alot of type-ins for that name - lol.