Meg Whitman filed a UDRP for several domain names, including megwhitmanforgovernor.com, megwhitman2010.com, meg2010.com, whitmanforgovernor.com, and whitman2010.com. The respondent did not file a response in this case, yet the panel ruled in favor of the respondent and denied Whitman’s complaint.

Whitman and her attorneys argued that Whitman has established common law rights to her name due to her many professional activities and success. She built eBay into a huge company, currently sits on its board of directors, and she speaks internationally.  They also argued that the domain names were registered right around the time there was speculation about her running for governor.

In denying the complaint, the panelist stated several things that, in my opinion, seem a bit inconsistent with what I perceived as the rule regarding owning names related to a famous/well-known person.  Previously I thought that it wasn’t permissible to make money on a domain name that is or contains the name of a famous person, when the revenue being generated is due to that person’s fame or notoriety.  IMO, anyone who would navigate to those sites is looking for the Meg Whitman.  Anyway, it’s interesting to note.

Some of the interesting notes from the panelist include:

“Merely having a “famous” name is not sufficient to establish common law trademark or service mark rights in the name. “

“fame alone is not sufficient to establish common law trademark or service mark rights in a personal name. Rather, the Complainant’s personal name must be used such that a relevant segment of the public comes to recognize her name as a symbol that distinguishes her services from those of similarly situated service providers. “

“Unlike the complainants in Monty and Pat Roberts, Inc., and Steven Rattner, supra, the Complainant here has presented no evidence of the actual use of her name as a source indicator in connection with the services she is claiming.”

I suppose if they claimed that the PPC links that were on the sites were related to Meg Whitman or eBay, they might have been better off.  I guess we won’t know unless she files a federal lawsuit.

I’m glad this post isn’t a “I wish I backed up my data before the fire, flood, pool incident…”  Instead, it’s more of a best practice reminder because it’s something I frequently need to remind myself about so I don’t forget to do it.  Back up data!

It’s probably enough to back up all computer data on a flash drive at least once a week, and that flash drive should be kept in a secure location.  If you are so inclined, you might do it every night, especially if you are working on a major web development (or similar) project. In fact, if you are working on anything that would be difficult to start from scratch, it’s a good idea to back-up your drive as much as possible – just don’t keep your flash drive attached to your computer all the time.

Another best practice is to back it up at least once a month with a flash drive that is stored off site – like in a bank deposit box.  If a fire or flood were to ever damage your computer, it’s possible that it will get your back up source if it’s not kept on site.  You should take precautions, because at the very least, if you are audited, the IRS won’t be accepting of a data loss excuse for the reason you can’t produce your files.

Apple has a product called the “Time Capsule” which automatically backs up data while you are working, in a machine that is also your Wifi base.  The Time Capsule, which can store one terabyte of data, is very expensive, but it does automate the process. The downside is that the Time Capsule is kept on site, so a fire or flood would also probably render the data useless.

However you back up your data, please choose to do it often and keep a back-up copy somewhere.  Having a good backing up strategy will help prevent you from having to come up with an emergency data recovery strategy!

I just saw this dramatic footage of US Airways flight 1549 which crash landed in the Hudson River in New York this past week. Thankfully there were no lives lost in this controlled landing on the Hudson, which truly is a miracle. You can see the plane land in the water, and the NY Waterway taxis quickly converged on the airplane as the passengers escaped on the wings.

This is some pretty neat footage, which looks to be shot from the New Jersey side of the shore, probably from a security camera. The footage comes courtesy of the New York Post and may be originally from the United States Coast Guard.