NameWise Policy Deletes

[soj]

It seems that NameWise Pty Ltd has had a few of their trademark infringing names deleted, the ones I found dropping tommorow are

Sega.com.au
Guess.com.au
AppleiPods.com.au
Marriot.com.au
CarltonFootballClub.com.au
BrisbaneFootballClub.com.au
FremantleFootballClub.com.au
NorthMelbourneFootbalClub.com.au
PortAdelaideFootballClub.com.au
BuyaSubaru.com.au
BuyaHonda.com.au
BuyaMazda.com.au
Rams.net.au
Reuter.com.au
BRW.net.au
MicrosoftExcel.com.au
ApplePro.com.au
BigLotto.com.au
AMPFinance.com.au
BlackberryFinance.com.au
DepartmentofImmigration.com.au
WorkCovers.com.au

 

[Simon Johnson]

Interesting.

If you register domains that are trademarked, then they should be deleted (per policy).

 

[DavidL]

Simon, you know it's not that simple!

Hence why there's a whole legal industry devoted to establishing TMs and IP rights. Personally I don't think auDA should be expected to make these sorts of decisions...

 

[Simon Johnson]

I'm just stating a fact under current au policy. My personal beliefs were left out of the post.

 

[Chris.C]

I'm surprised the names were able to be registered in the beginning, the majority of them are clear TM violations.

 

[DavidL]

No way auDA or a registrar can assess for TM violations before registering a name for a client so you can pretty much register whatever you want and then face the consequences later...

 

[Chris.C]

No way auDA or a registrar can assess for TM violations before registering a name for a client so you can pretty much register whatever you want and then face the consequences later...

But surely it wouldn't be hard for registrars to assess whether a domain is a TM breach prior to allowing registration.

Or do they operate on the premise that if the buyer is stupid enough to buy it then they should have to forfeit the domain and reg fee?

 

[DavidL]

But surely it wouldn't be hard for registrars to assess whether a domain is a TM breach prior to allowing registration.

Or do they operate on the premise that if the buyer is stupid enough to buy it then they should have to forfeit the domain and reg fee?

As I said, definitively deciding whether a domain is TM infringing or not is very hard. That's why so much money is poured into legal experts in the case of disputes (both on and off line).

So there's no chance registrars, even with the best will in the world, could do this when they are making margins as little as $2/domain

I personally don't think, even if they do have the time & margins to do so, that they should. I think this sort of thing should be left for the experts.

 

[marketingweb]

I think that cncventure's point is that so many of these are completely obvious trademark violations of really well known name brands.

However, the reason I believe that AUDA operates the way it does is that what is "obvious" to one is not "obvious" to another.

If they go down the "it's obviously a violation so lets block it", they run two risks. Firstly if someone makes a call to say something is a violation and it isn't then that is a risk. Secondly and much more importantly, if they decide to block the ones they think are obvious, others with a trademark that doesn't get blocked won't find the system fair. Blocking some doesn't work - it has to be an "all up front" thing, or a "deal with it later" thing as it is now.

Given the extra resources required to check each one up front from the thousand registered, the current system works better. Besides, as has been mentioned before, trademark law is complex - for example a trademark will usually only apply to certain markets - which is why Apple Music and Apple Computer could co-exist for so long, and why there was such a bun fight when Apple Computer started to get into the music business!

Matt