Atlanteknology - Technology News for Atlantic Canada

The Wild West – or is it the Wild.eu?

Recently, the European Union's domain administrator, EURid, suspended 74,000 .eu domain names after an investigation found that the domain names had been stockpiled for sale rather than use. The domain names had been registered using shell companies.

The potential for the problem was predicted by GoDaddy’s CEO, Bob Parsons, who noted that there were 800 domain name registrars shortly before the “land rush” of .eu domain names registrations began and that, immediately before the rush began, 300 more registrars appeared.

If you are considering a .eu registration it is advisable to check carefully with the domain name registrar you will be using to ensure that it is a legitimate business and your registration will not be challenged for circumstances beyond your control.

Domain Name Disputes - Bad Faith

The Toro Company v. Hannon is an interesting case. Usually an owner of a trade-mark has little difficulty in getting web sites named after relatively prominent trade-marks transferred to the trade-mark owner. Not so in a case revolving around the web site "toro.ca". The sticking point was that the owner of the web site had registered it in bad faith or whether he had had a legitimate use for the name (he did - the site was a way for people with the last name "Toro" to keep in touch). Just another reason to do in-depth web based searching when selecting trade-marks, trade names, or business names. View case