[Groop]GROO NEWS from me

[Shane Clarke]

cyber-squatting: <jargon, networking> The practice of registering famous
brand names as Internet domain names, e.g. harrods.com, ibm.firm or
sears.shop, in the hope of later selling them to the appropriate owner
at a profit.

What is cyber-squatting?
Over the past decade, the term cyber-squatting has come to mean
different things to different people; unfortunately, there is no
universally-accepted official definition. However, in a recent high
profile judgement in the U.S. Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Judge
Berle M. Schiller defined cyber-squatting or cyber-piracy as the
"deliberate, bad-faith, and abusive registration of Internet domain
names in violation of the rights of trademark owners."

The notoriety of cyber-squatting derives from the practice of
registering a domain name based on a famous brand name owned by a
company or person, and seeking to sell the domain name back to the
owners of the brand at an inflated price.

A few years ago, ICANN introduced a Universal Dispute Resolution Policy
to mediate in domain name disputes by providing reasonably simple and
inexpensive arbitration. In addition, cyber-squatting is now illegal
under U.S. law. The practice - at least at the gTLD level - is in
decline; earlier infringements, however, are still being resolved.

*******************************

Good information here for you M.E.: http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp.htm -
I'm not sure that www.sergioaragones.com would fall under these terms,
but it seems pretty obvious that the person involved is simply out for a
quick buck, otherwise they'd gladly give it up! Maybe there's something
legal that can be done to take it from him and not get him a single
cent. :)

~doc clarke 

-----Original Message-----
From: groop-admin@groo.com [mailto:groop-admin@groo.com] On Behalf Of
Mark Evanier
Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 6:05 PM
To: groop@groo.com
Subject: [Groop]GROO NEWS from me

Hi, gang.

In the next couple of months, I'm going to be setting up a website for
Sergio, with the latest Sergio news and maybe some books and artwork
for sale.  Unfortunately, we're having a little trouble securing the
name we want.

A year ago, someone registered www.sergioaragones.com and he's been
trying to sell it to Sergio for what we consider an outrageous price.
(He originally wanted a lot of original art.)  Sergio is mad enough
about this that he doesn't want to pay a cent for it, and doesn't want
anyone else to.  So if you hear of the domain name going up for sale,
don't bite.  We may have to sue the guy who has it or whoever he sells
it to.

In the meantime, we're considering a couple of other names which are
available.  I'll let you know when we resolve something.
------------------------------
www.POVonline.com - a website about comic books, cartoons, TV,
movies, Groo the Wanderer, Broadway, Las Vegas, Hollywood,
Stan Freberg, Laurel & Hardy, Jack Kirby and possums in my backyard.


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