10-17-2006, 05:41 AM
Hoosierhunter Wrote:I have been crunching on this problem a lot lately, and I have to think that registrars need to step up to the plate and think twice before allowing a typo squatter to purchase a domain, but the thing is there is a lot of gray area here. We have implications upon accusations, and overall a person who registers their personal name can still be considered a typo squatter if the wrong person is questioning motives. Part of me is concerned that the WWW is still a wild wild west, with so many variables to consider with discrepancies. Perhaps big businesses need to think farther ahead and reserve potential typos prior to getting started. If they do not do this, it is irresponsibility on their part as well unless they just didn't forsee it. Perhaps registrars could make suggestions as to which domains they might want to include to avoid it.
There is a 1999 Court ruling where Network Solutions was found not to be
responsible for checking for trademarks. I don't have the exact link, but I
somewhat recall the name "lockheed" (just google it).
It's not realistically and economically feasible for registrars to do that for
their end-users. If they do, they're not going to charge $6-10 a year for a
.com domain name.
Also, some parties find it more convenient to track down domain names
that potentially infringe their trademark rights and send notices after rather
than possibly register all typos and possibly miss out one later on.