Were excited to welcome D3 to our growing lineup of sponsors for the upcomingICA Member Meeting!As an ICA member and industry pioneer, D3 is committed tobuilding on the foundation of the domain industryand supporting new opportunities for registries, registrars, and domain investors. Fred Hsu(CEO & Co-Founder of D3),Susan Lawrence andKevin Kreu...

Trademark Infringement and the UDRP Notably, the Panel properly rejected the doctrine of constructive notice in the context of the UDRP. As noted in UDRP Perspectives at 3.4, there is no place for the concept of constructive notice of trademarks under the Policy. The essence of a Complaint is an allegation of bad faith targeting of the Complainant....

This month, were switching things up! Instead of our usual AMA, were hosting an ICA December Social a fun, casual call where members can connect, chat about domains, ICA updates, the upcoming Annual Member Meeting, or anything else thats top of mind. Were keeping the vibe light and lively, and there may even be some surprise games to keep ... Rea...

Genuine Criticism Websites Enjoy Safe Harbor Under UDRP The Panel correctly dismissed the Complaint. Whether one has sympathy or not for the target of a critical website, and whether or not one believes that the UDRP can be adapted to address cases of unfair or defamatory websites, the fact is that the UDRP was not intended to be and must ... Read...

Selling Tesla Accessories Bona Fide and Nominative Fair Use As clearly stated by the Panel, the Policy was created to address obvious cases of cybersquatting. It was not intended to address all trademark disputes involving domain names, referencing the WIPO Overview 3.0 at 4.14.6 which states in part, panels have tended to deny the case not on the ...

The Internet Commerce Association is proud to announce the nominees for the 2025 Lonnie Borck Memorial Award and the newly introduced Trailblazer Award. These prestigious honors recognize the outstanding individuals and companies whose contributions have profoundly impacted the domain name industry. The Lonnie Borck Memorial Award celebrates indivi...

ThisFriday, November 22nd at 1 PM EST, we'll be hosting aSpecial Callwith domain tax expertEd Neff, CPA. Known for his expertise in helping domain investors navigate the intricate U.S. tax code, Ed will guide us through the unique challenges and opportunities of domain name taxation. Agenda Highlights: Determining Business Type for Tax Purposes Is ...

The Challenge of Properly Applying Telstra The key element of the well-known Telstra standard:it is not possible to conceive of any plausible actual or contemplated active use of the domain name by the Respondent that would not be illegitimate. while appearing to be simple and intuitive is quite challenging to apply. It is an odd standard that devi...

Complainants Must Establish Reputation as of Date of Domain Registration We often see Complainants making the mistake of proving their reputation as of the time of filing the Complaint, but that is inadequate. Rather, the material date is the date of registration since that is the point in time that we must evaluate whether the Complainants reputat...

Were excited to share thatAtomandHilco Digital Assetswill co-sponsor theClosing Receptionat our Annual Member Meeting in Las Vegas! Join us atBar Zazuon the evening ofTuesday, January 28th, 2025, as we wrap up an amazing few days of fun, insight, and connection. Bar Zazu is a familiar favorite, having hosted our opening reception last year, also sp...

We are excited to announce thatGoDaddywill sponsor theOpening Receptionat our Annual Member Meeting in Las Vegas! The reception will be held on theevening of Monday, January 27th, 2025, at Resorts World, following the days activities. Join us for an evening offood, drinks, and connectionas we unwind after a productive first day. The reception will ...

Intentionality and Trademark Infringement Can a Respondents belief that a Complainant abandoned its trademark, combined with due diligence, vitiate a claim of bad faith registration? Yes, as the Panel found in this case. Here, the Respondent provided an apparently credible explanation of the reasons that it believed that it had the right to registe...

Policy Requires That Bad Faith Must Target Complainant, Specifically, Not Unrelated Third Parties We sometimes see Respondents misapprehend what a generic or descriptive term is. Here, the Respondent argued that the Disputed Domain Name "consists of two generic terms, ‘cyber' and ‘nautic, however as the Panel pointed out, this does not ...

ICA General Counsel, Zak Muscovitch, led a UDRP Panelist workshop in Vancouver, along with renowned UDRP panelists Steve Levy and Doug Isenberg. The workshop was hosted by the CIIDRC, an ICANN-accredited UDRP dispute resolution provider. Many thanks to Ina Ergasheva, Director of Operations at the Canadian International Internet Dispute Resolution C...

The countdown is ON! In just100 days, ICA members and friends will gather inLas Vegasfor ourAnnual Member Meeting, and you wont want to miss it. Mark your calendars forJanuary 26th 28th, because were bringing together everything ICA is known for authentic connections, fun activities, and meaningful conversations in the heart of Vegas. This year, w...

Free Speech/Criticism as Legitimate Interest The 3-member Forum Panel in <veatchcarlson. com> denied the complaint and found that the Respondent has a legitimate interest in using the disputed domain name for criticizing the Complainant. The issue of free speech/criticism remains one of the grey areas in UDRP jurisprudence. Continue reading...

We are excited to announce that the .ART Registry has joined the ICA, represented by Jeff Sass, Chief Marketing Officer. Jeff joined the .ART team in 2023, bringing extensive experience from his role as CMO and Co-founder of .CLUB Domains, which was successfully acquired by GoDaddy. Jeff has also been a pivotal figure in several start-ups, includin...

Complainant Fails to Prove Prior Trademark Rights The Panel was of course, correct that a trademark right must predate the disputed domain name for there to be bad faith registration. As noted in UDRP Perspectives at 3.2, for bad faith registration to have occurred, the trademark must predate the Respondents domain name registration. UDRP Panels ro...

Were excited to announce our next "Ask Me Anything" session featuring Dave Evanson from Sedo! ICA members, mark your calendars for October 9, 2024, at 1 PM EST for an exclusive opportunity to dive into the world of brokering high-value domain deals. Dave is a highly respected figure in the domain industry, known for facilitating numerous high-profi...

Panel: Respondent's Prerogative to Seek Any Price it Wishes for a Generic-Word Domain Name Although the Panel ultimately rejected the claim for RDNH, the Panel did consider it – as is its duty to under the Rules where the facts so warrant, as was the case here. RDNH is a discretionary remedy and Panels have significant latitude in accepting o...

Does Res Judicata Apply to Refiled UDRP Complaints? Looking back at the original case, the Complainant's arguments (as summarized in the second decision) do not seem to quite match what transpired there. The US trademark registration application was filed on the same day that the complainant's domain name was registered, January 23, 2019. The Compl...

We are thrilled to announce that nominations are now open for the 2025 Lonnie Borck Memorial Award! This award honors those who make an exceptional contribution to fostering a sense of community within the domain name industry. Previous recipients are: 2024: Jason Sheppard 2022: Andrew Allemann 2021: Michael Cyger 2020: Ron Jackson 2019: John Berry...

System Critical Updates Available by Mr. Sten Lilliestrm It is not uncommon to believe that language is merely a set of arbitrary units that we learn by rote. That is perhaps the legacy view and the common idea. But at the heart of modern Linguistics are hard, unresolved questions about what is actually going on under the hood. And the ... Read Mo...

An update to UDRP Perspectives was released on August 30th. This version offers entirely new perspectives on Personal Names (1.9) and on Prior Business Relationships (3.9), as wellas revised and expanded Perspectives on And not Or (3.1) and on Setting a Price and Offering for Sale (3.5). This version also includes the addition of many recently publ...

We are excited to introduce theICA Trailblazer Award, a new honor developed by the ICA to recognize and celebrate companies and individuals that have significantly advanced the domain name industry by creating an especially innovative product or service with lasting influence on our business. A robust, sophisticated industry has grown from modest r...

Nominative Fair Use Favoring a Holistic Approach to the OKI Data Test This decision is one of a number of recent cases that have looked beyond the binary questions of items two and three of the venerable Oki Data test, i.e., whether a respondents website sells only the trademarked goods or services and not those of a complainant's competitors ... ...

The Internet Commerce Association has always been at the forefront of the .com pricing issue. In fact, .com pricing was one of the reasons that the ICA was founded in 2006. In 2012, the ICA was instrumental in freezing .com wholesale pricing at $7.85. In 2018, despite the concerted efforts of many in the domain name community including the ICA ... ...

Was the domain name registered in bad faith? Targeting vs. Constructive notice in the UDRP The Complainant relied on the two "App Science" US trademarks where the "app" element is disclaimed. The Respondent argued among other things that: He registered the disputed Domain Name on November 15, 2018, for the purpose of starting a software consulting ...

As we get closer to the ICA Annual Member Meeting, our excitement is growing! We're thrilled to see so many of our members already registered and eager to participate in what promises to be a fantastic event. This meeting is more than just a gathering; its an opportunity for us to come together as a community, share insights, and help ... Read Mor...

The next ICA AMA with Alan Shiflett from GoDaddy is happening tomorrow, Friday, August 16th, at 1:30 PM Eastern. All ICA memebers are welcome to attend. Alan Shiflett brings a wealth of experience from his 15-year journey at GoDaddy, where hes been dedicated to serving Domain Investor clients. Most recently, Alan led the Sales and Support Teams for...

Are Made-Up Word Registrations Defensible By Respondents? The issue of investing in brandable domain names is a difficult one. As the Panel pointed out, medaxis is not a generic word or term, and has the appearance of a trademark rather than that of a dictionary word or phrase. Does that mean that it is off limits for a domain name ... Read More T...

Challenging UDRP Awards in an ACPA Action (Special Guest Article Series) CHALLENGING UDRP AWARDS IN AN ACPA ACTION: SOME PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS It would be most unusual were there never any errors in deciding UDRP disputes. Ill address these issues of error and appeal over several articles beginning here with some preliminary observations. Commen...

NEW: Introducing UDRP Perspectives! A new resource for panelists and practitioners prepared by UDRP Panelists and Practitioners, Igor Motsnyi and Zak Muscovitch who also serves as General Counsel to the ICA. From the Introduction to UDRP Perspectives (located at www.UDRPPerspectives.org): UDRP Perspectives.org is where you can come to find a curate...

Recording Now Available from the Inaugural Levine Lecture by Tony Willoughby: We were honored to have Tony Willoughby deliver the inaugural Levine Lecture. His insights and unique perspectives on the UDRP made for a compelling talk.We are pleased to announce that the lecture is now available online for you to watch at your convenience. Here is the ...

We are excited to share that the recording of the inaugural Levine Lecture is now available online for you to watch at your convenience. Whether you were able to join us live or not, you can now revisit this insightful event. The lecture was a great success, with nearly 80 attendees reflecting the high interest in the topic. We were ... Read More ...

Panel: Complainants Representatives Likely Knew Case Bound to Fail To the Panels credit, the dismissal and finding of RDNH was of course entirely justified as a result of the domain name registration preceding the Complainants trademark rights by 16 years. But why did the Respondent have to deal with a case this meritless? Yes, meritless cases are ...

We're thrilled to invite you to an exclusive ICA AMA with Matt Barrie, CEO of Escrow.comand Freelancer.com. The AMA will take place on Monday July 22nd 8 pm NYC time/Tuesday July 23rd 10 am Sydney time.Matt is a seasoned entrepreneur and technology expert, leading Escrow.com and Freelancer.com. Escrow.com recently re-joined the ICA, and we are thri...

We are excited to announce that tickets for the ICA Annual Member Meeting 2025 are now available for purchase at the Early Bird Rate of $399! Buy your tickets now as the Early Bird Rate ends on July 31st. This year we have negotiated special rates at both the Hilton and the Conrad. Take your pick of hotel and benefit ... Read More The post Get you...

Retroactive Bad Faith is Unquestionably Long Dead It is somewhat surprising to see the discarded and discredited concept of Retroactive Bad Faith try to come back from the dead as it did in this case. Retroactive Bad Faith in unquestionably contrary to the Policy as thoroughly discussed in this article: The Rise and Fall of the UDRP Theory of Retro...

Panel: Four-letter .COMS May Be Inherently Valuable It is notable that the Panelist rightly recognized the inherent value of four-letter .com domain names. Time and time again, UDRP Panels have ruled in favor of respondents when it comes to domain names corresponding to three-letter domain names, including by domain name investors. As explained in ...

Kate is CEO and Founder of Defining.com (formerly Buckley Media), the worlds first agency combining Premium Domain ServicesSales, Acquisitions, Corporate Domain Services, with a full suite of top tier Branding & Growth Services. In the domain industry since 1998, Kates a regular speaker and panelist on domains and branding, including keynoting ...

Three-Letter .COM Registered in 1993, But No RDNH DNW .COM wrote about this case in its article. GSF.com cybersquatting dispute should have been reverse domain name hijacking. I understand the frustration expressed by DNW.com in criticizing the absence of an RDNH finding; But despite this innocent domain owner having to hire a lawyer to defend agai...

We are excited to announce the dates for our 4th Annual ICA Member Meeting. Mark your calendars for January 26th to 28th, 2025, at Resorts World in Las Vegas! The meeting is open to all current ICA Members and anyone who joins the ICA before the meeting date. Its an amazing opportunity to reconnect with our wonderful community and key ... Read Mor...