Panelist calls out mass UDRP filer for automated case submission.

Just how does CitizenHawk file so many UDRP cases? It appears to use an automated UDRP generator or template to quickly file cases. And a panelist with National Arbitration Forum is calling B.S.

The case in question is on behalf of CitizenHawk client LetsTalk.com. The company tried to get LetzTalk.com, arguing that it differs by only one letter from its LetsTalk.com mark. But the complaint contained irrelevant and erroneous information, and the panelist wasn’t pleased. When CitizenHawk tried to file an additional submission, the panelist wrote:

Having carefully reviewed Complainant’s initial submission, the Panel believes that it was prepared by some sort of automatic process with little or no human review. For example, the Complaint refers throughout to “Complainant’s Mark(s)” and “Disputed Domain Name(s),” even though there is only one relevant mark and one domain name in dispute. The Complaint includes an obviously false contention regarding the timing of the registration of the disputed domain name, and includes other extraneous boilerplate material (for example, argument and authorities for the proposition that a top-level domain is irrelevant to the question of identicality or confusing similarity—clearly inapplicable in this case, where the trademark includes “.com”).

Ouch. Panelist David E. Sorkin refused to consider the additional submission, and found that the domain name was not registered and used in bad faith.

Company offers free membership through the end of April.

AfternicDLS is offering free sellers memberships — but the offer ends April 30.

Afternic usually charges $19.95 to become a seller on its platform, and $1.00 for a buyer-only membership. Its chief competitor Sedo doesn’t charge for accounts.

However, given Afternic’s historic focus on sales instead of domain parking, the fee makes sense. The seller fee limits the amount of users who merely flood the system with low value domains. The buyer fee validates the identity of buyers.

To take advantage of the deal, you can email PremiumPromotion (at) Afternic.com or call the company’s service center at 1-866-830-6451 (US), +1 339-222-5139 (Worldwide).

I highly recommend people list their domains for sale on both Afternic and Sedo, as they each have different reach. Afternic, through its parent NameMedia and the BuyDomains site, focuses on end users. Sedo leans more toward the domain investor market, although it also has a number of end user clients.

ICANN chooses another controversial location for ICANN meeting.

Continuing a theme of holding ICANN meetings in places that members of the Intellectual Property Constituency are too afraid to go, ICANN’s board has approved holding its December meeting in Cartagena, Colombia.

As I discussed last month, I’m sure that ICANN didn’t take this decision lightly. It pulled off a successful meeting in Mexico City without much pushback. But its last meeting in Nairobi was lightly attended due to security concerns. Among the parties staying home were VeriSign, Go Daddy, Neustar, and the Intellectual Property Constituency. No major issues were reported in Kenya, despite a bomb threat against the building where the event was held and a meeting of African leaders at the same location.

Mexico, Kenya, and Colombia all have U.S. State Department travel warnings. Maybe ICANN was tired of going to countries where people could rip on it for just being a vacation travel club.

The Colombia meeting will be held December 5-10, 2010. The next meeting will be in March 2011, somewhere in North America.

Bankruptcy case to proceed for now.

A judge assigned to the bankruptcy case of Sex.com owner Escom, LLC has denied creditor and shareholder DOM Partners’ request to dismiss the case.

Three companies run by Mike Mann filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition against Escom the day before Sex.com was to be offered in a high profile auction in New York City. Mann argued that the best way to realize the maximum value from the sale of Sex.com was to hold an orderly bankruptcy auction using a skilled domain auctioneer.

Escom, LLC filed a formal response to the bankruptcy filing, saying that it agreed with the bankruptcy proceedings. That should come as no surprise to DOM Partners, which claims that Escom’s CEO reports to Mike Mann and that Mann effectively operates Escom.

The upshot of a bankruptcy auction is that the domain name could be auctioned free of all liens. But given the history of Sex.com, I’m betting we haven’t seen the last twist in this case.

Companies spend $4 million influencing Capitol Hill.

Domain name companies and other companies with an interest in domain name matters spent about $4 million dollars lobbying Congress last year.

Using public records filed under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, Domain Name Wire has tallied total spending for 2009 by a number of companies. (See spending in the first half of 2009 here.)

VeriSign led the pack, spending $2.4 million to influence matters related to Domain name addressing, internet taxation, phishing and email legislation. In second place was Go Daddy, which spent $715,500 on a number of matters. In the second half of the year it focused on targeted online advertising and deep packet inspection.

With ICANN working to gain further independence from the U.S. government, the non-profit spent $240,000. It describes some of its interests as new gTLDs, “independence from UN/ITU/government capture”, and “post-JPA cooperation with USG”.

Neustar spent $140,000 on matters including those related to ICANN. Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse spent $130,000 compared to the $10,000 spent by Internet Commerce Association.

Both Demand Media and its eNom spent money on lobbying, totalling $170,000 between the two. eNom spent its portion on “Providing information to Congress regarding generic top level domain names.”

Banks.com spent $30,000, including on issues of “Treasury Department Symbols”. This should come as no surprise, since the company is fighting to hold onto its IRS.com domain name.

Some non-domain name companies spent money lobbying about domain name issues as well. Christian Coalition of America lobbied to try to stop the .xxx top level domain name. Both Xerox and Time Warner pushed issues related to internet domain names and trademarks.