Register.com, ICANN registrar, is closing its domain name re-seller Afternic, after paying $48 million for it two years ago.   In the ICANN Watch post-mortem, a post signed by Anonymous argued that there is a place in the world for people who register domain names for $9, and then warehouse them:

“The domain name system

…

This is reportedly an email from Hilary Rosen of the RIAA to executives at Yahoo, Real Networks, AOL, and Universal Studios.  It asks their assistance in combatting piracy on P2P networks. Ms. Rosen indicates that new legitimate subscription offerings are imminent (that’s good news).  One paragraph caught my attention:

“We need to discuss:

1. Spoofing…

Registrant obtained the domain name JUSTDOIT.NET and re-directed it to its own website.  Nike brought a UDRP.  Two of the three panelists held that Nike didn’t make its case.

In my view the error of the majority is that while it concedes that complainant showed it has a strong unique mark and …

Peeble Beach golf course fails to stop PEEBLE BEACH single malt whiskey, in Scotland.  Possibly different outcome when they attempt to import into the U.S. Via herald.co.uk.

Robin Williams has a really funny bit about the invention of golf.  If I were to provide the link which I found using Google, I might be…

Purebred Co., a small high-end pet food company, won a $2.9 million verdict against Heinz, on the grounds that Heinz’ NATURE’S RECIPE PUREBRED FORMULA infringed its PUREBRED mark.  $1.5m in lost income, $1.4 in punitives.  Via Insidedenver.com.

When clearing a new brand or evaluating a multi-country trademark dispute, it is useful to get a quick snapshot of whether a mark is registered in key jurisdictions around the world.  For a long time the cheapest “quick and dirty” searches cost several hundred dollars from the outside search firms (and usually took several business …

My blogging software allows me to see what Google searches were used to find this site. To the person who came here by entering “Can I Use A Cell Phone I Found?,” I would say “Only to report an emergency while you are returning it.”

The NY Times and the Wall Street Journal reports today that Phillip Morris has filed 8 lawsuits in NY and California against websites which are, allegedly, illegally importing Phillip Morris cigarettes into the U.S.  The sites include cheapmarlboro.com,  discount-marlboro-cigarettes.com and europecigarettes.com. 

Cheapmarlboro.com and europecigarettes.com appear to do business in Europe. Hard…