Jason Seashore

First AI-powered law firm approved by UK's Solicitors Regulation Authority today.westlaw.com/Document/I…

Billion-dollar cyberscam industry spreading globally, UN says reuters.com/world/china/canc…

Q&A: WIPO's Brian Beckham, ICA's Zak Muscovitch aim to 'shape the scope' of domain dispute resolution today.westlaw.com/Document/I…… #ICANN #domains #WIPO @PatrickHJHughes @JasonSeashore

Is blockchain the next big thing for insurance companies? Attorneys from @CarltonFields discuss the use of blockchain technology and smart contracts in the insurance industry. today.westlaw.com/Document/I…

I've been getting some questions about what you can and what you shouldn't register in .box domain names. The basic rule is simple: You must register and use domain names in good faith. Good faith generally means that you have a valid and lawful reason for registering a domain name. It also generally means that you are not registering or using a domain name to interfere with, unfairly capitalize off of, or sell to a specific trademark owner. So for example, you shouldn't register a domain name like CitiBank .box, or like Google .box. These are invented, well known, and highly distinctive brands such that there is generally no conceivable good faith use of these domain names. In contrast, registering generic terms like housing .box, cars .box, and travel .box, are usually registerable and usable in good faith because either there is no corresponding trademark right held by anyone or because you are using the domain name in a "descriptive" sense, i.e. cardboard .box for a website selling cardboard boxes. Why care? Because if you register and use a domain name in bad faith, a trademark owner can take the domain name away from you either with a lawsuit or more often, via an online procedure called a UDRP. A UDRP is an online arbitration. There have been nearly 100,000 cases in the last 24 years. That's a lot of cases but not in relation to the millions of domain names that have been registered. Most are won by trademark owners because the domain name registrant is a cybersquatter and registered and used the domain name in bad faith, such as to prevent the trademark owner from getting its corresponding domain name, to sell to the trademark owner, or to make money off of advertising or misprespresentation. Many however, are won by the registrant. For example, Queen .com was challenged by a Danish flower seller who had a trademark but the owner won because he registered it in good faith. He had never even heard of the Danish company and registered it because of its dictionary word meaning. You can read the case here: wipo.int/amc/en/domains/sear… The key to UDRP cases is "targeting". Are you registering a domain name >>because<< of a specific trademark or >>despite<< of it? Are you registering, for example, Tesla .box to try to sell to the car company? Or are you registering it for a website about the scientist? You can read more about the UDRP here, on the @ICADomains website: internetcommerce.org/what-is… You can look up and read about past cases on UDRP.tools. This can be very helpful in deciding which domain name to register. For example, you can see that Google has brought around 370 cases over a domain names which include GOOGLE or similar, and has won most of them. udrp.tools/?s=80a22b82. Would probably be a good domain name to stay away from... It is often helpful to conduct a Google search of a term before registering it to help find out if it looks like a trademark or not. Also, try a WIPO Global brand search: wipo.int/branddb/en/index.js… or a USPTO search: tess2.uspto.gov/search/searc…. Even when a term is a trademark however, that doesn't always mean you must stay away. If a term is very commonly used by all sorts of companies all over the world, it may mean that it is ripe for registration since it can be adopted and used by yet another new entrant to the marketplace. Also, except in the case of very well known trademarks, such as PEPSI for example, a trademark generally doesn't prevent someone from using a term in a totally unrelated business. That is why there can be, for example, an APPLE technology company and also an APPLE records, living side by side. That being said, if you register a domain name like Apple and you arent selling apples at a fruitstand, good luck! Sometimes, a trademark owner will bring an abusive case where they have no right to the domain name, just because they want it for free. You can read about these cases, called "Reverse Domain Name Hijacking" cases at rdnh.com/. Sometimes cases can be complex and make for very interesting reading. You can subscribe for free to a weekly UDRP newsletter that summarizes recent cases and provides commentary: internetcommerce.org/udrp-ca… Lastly, you can read the UDRP Policy here: icann.org/resources/pages/he… And can join in domain name law discussions every Tuesday, here: dnltv.com/index.html And if you are concerned with domain name owner rights, please join the Internet Commerce Association, here: internetcommerce.org/join/. We just had our Annual Meeting in Las Vegas (See dnjournal.com/articles/2024/…).

Domain name owners and the attorneys who represent them discussed a host of legal issues facing the domain name industry at the @ICADomains's annual member meeting held last week in Las Vegas. today.westlaw.com/Document/I… @Berryhillj @JasonSeashore @lwgrll @jintlaw

Join me, @jintlaw and @davidmichaels every Tuesday for the Domain Name Law Show. This week we’ll discuss the risks domain owners take with PPC landing pages and we’ll also review three recent UDRP decisions. nitter.cf/i/spaces/1yNxaZwmQoNKj

Social Centric Agenda and Soaring 2024 Attendance Has Made the ICA Annual Meeting a Can't Miss Event - Photos & Highlights from Last Week's Meeting in Las Vegas: dnjournal.com/articles/2024/… #domains #ICADomains

Some #UDRP panelists blame the domain owner for advertising links that appear on a registrar supplied default landing page. Is this ever justified? internetcommerce.org/udrp/ar…