Prof Goldman: “1-800 Contact Sues LensWorld For Keyword Advertising”

In any case, the LensWorld lawsuit is a garden-variety advertiser-vs.-advertiser keyword advertising lawsuit. Based on the limited data we have, I’m guessing the Utah federal court will deem keyword advertising a trademark use in commerce, but after that, who knows? The only twist here is that 1-800 Contacts claims that LensWorld aped their FAQs, prompting a tossed-in copyright infringement claim as part of the package. Also I can’t help but note that there appear to be many other possible defendants who are buying 1800contacts as a keyword (see the screenshot in para. 22/page 6)…is a 1-800 Contacts litigation frenzy imminent, or is LensWorld uniquely positioned for 1-800 Contacts’ enmity?

MSNBC.COM: “Internet Agency To Battle Domain Name ‘Tasting‘”

In a draft report issued this week, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers outlined key issues for a committee to study further and craft recommendations. A final report is due after a public comment period closes Jan. 28.
Don’t expect any immediate relief. The committee, the Generic Names Supporting Organization, could take months or years to review the matter, after which ICANN’s board still would have to vote on any changes.
The operators of the “.org” suffix already won approval to charge companies that make too many returns. The number of deletions dropped to 152,700 in June, compared with 2.4 million in May, after the new fee took effect.

Folks are afraid of domain name front-running, that is to say that they fear that someone will intercept a whois look-up and register the name ahead of then. In fact, in the pre-ICANN days when the old NetSol wouldn’t require payment up front, it made sense to register a name rather than look it up (and now in the era of domain name tasting the same logic applies).
So today we learn the following. If you go to (the new) NSI’s whois, and type in any available string, for the following four days that string will show up as a name registered to “This name available through NSI.” You (or, as far as I can tell) anyone else over the next four days) can only buy that name through NSI (at it’s regular retail price). During those four days, the name, say, NSIISTEALINGMYNAME.COM will look like this.
So, to the best of my understanding, if you were to search for the name WHICH-REGISTRAR-WILL-SUE-NSI-FIRST.COM now, and it was available, and you closed your browser terminating your search, for the next four days that string will show up as UNAVAILABLE in every other registrar’s whois, and as available in NSI’s whois, and anyone can register the name through NSI for the next four days.

NSI’s spokesperson has responded as follows:

“I’d like to clarify what we are doing. In response to customer concerns about Domain Name Front Running (domains being registered by someone else just after they have conducted a domain name search), we have implemented a security measure to protect our customers. The measure will kick in when a customer searches for an available domain name at our website, but decides not to purchase the name immediately after conducting the search.
After the search ends, we will put the domain name on reserve. During this reservation period, the name is not active and we do not monetize the traffic on these domains. If a customer searches for the domain again during the next 4 days at networksolutions.com, the domain will be available to register. If the domain name is not purchased within 4 days, it will be released back to the registry and will be generally available for registration.
This protection measure provides our customers the opportunity to register domains they have previously searched without the fear that the name will be already taken through Front Running.
You are correct that we are trying to take an arrow out of the quiver of the tasters. As you know, domain tasters are the largest Front Runners. Due to no fault of registrars, Front Runners purchase search data from Internet Service Providers and/or registries and then taste those names. Some folks may not agree with our approach, but we are trying to prevent this malicious activity from impacting our customers.”

Well, I suppose that there is a certain of subset of people who wil search on NSI, not immediately register, and want to register over the subsequent four days. If NSI’s program does in fact protect such people from front-running, then NSI is acknowledging that the connection between the whois searcher and NSI’s server is not secure. It’s worth exploring why.
BUT LET’S NOT FORGET THIS SCENARIO:
Your namesearcher is searching EXAMPLE1 through EXAMPLE50 for you. Your name searcher doesn’t have a credit card and you’re not authorized to spend the money on ten names so you can’t snap up all ten. Someone hear’s a rumor that you’re considering EXAMPLE4 as a name. They check the name and now they know that someone has searched the name on whois within the past 4 days.
So everyone is forced to be a name taster now.

knockoff463.jpg
Gizmodo: “Media Player Knockoff Hall of Shame“:

I just ventured into the bowels of the International Pavilion, a separate building beyond the North Hall that’s home to tons of tiny booths of companies from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. Basically, it’s full of power supplies, shitty digital picture frames and knockoffs

Vogue UK: “Lacoste Has Little To Smile About After Losing Its Copyright (sic) Case – Against A Dental Practice”:

French fashion giant Lacoste has lost its court battle against a Gloucestershire-based dental practice, after arguing in court that the surgery’s use of a crocodile logo was too similar to the famous trademark found on its polo shirts.

Class 46 blog commentary here.