Will Newly Passed Legislation Impact Domain Owners?
I don’t have a legal background, but I was just sent a link to some legislation that was just passed by US Senate. The Act, known as the “Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008’’ creates a Cabinet-level position called the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator.
Recently, some companies have gone after trademark domain names by citing violations of copyright acts in lieu of the Lanham Act, which specifically covers domain names. This Act will allow the US Justice Department to file lawsuits against people who violate copyrights on behalf of the copyright holders. Could this could be dangerous for domain owners whose names could potentially be considered copyright violations?
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Comments (4)
Michael Berkens
September 27th, 2008 at 12:53 am
Elliot
I believe the ICA legal advisers looked at this a while back and decided it was not a threat to domain names in and of themselves
Mickie Kennedy
September 27th, 2008 at 10:08 am
It all depends on how they apply the law. I read a while back that there have been only a couple of suits filed under the CAN-SPAM Act. Now, we all know there are hundreds, if not tens of thousands of violators of the CAN-SPAM act (check you spam folder). If the new act will be used to go after the most egregious abusers, that’s fine. If, however, the department goes on the attack, it could be problematic.
Efrin Saffin
September 27th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Since we now live in a fascist country; one cannot depend on law or justice, property can be taken at will, for any reason or no reason at all.
If thought through, one can see no reasonable hope for retaining any property at all, (unless one is part of the regime, that is!)
so fasc
Andrew
September 27th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
I doubt it. A copyright is usually something longer…
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