As the Internet becomes more and more pervasive in our lives, more and more people participate in the lucrative activity of buying and selling domain names, called “domain”. The people who buy and sell names are called “domainers”. Thousands of people earn significant income through this activity, and there are even some publicly traded companies whose main source of income is the domain (NameMedia, which is listed on the Canadian Stock Exchange, is an example).
However, certain changes made by ICANN (International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the body that governs the rules behind domain names and much of the Internet, could cause problems for innocent domain owners.
The laws, which refer to the UDRP (Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy) process used by copyright holders to resolve disputes with domain owners, were drastically changed to allow large corporations to remove a name that infringes a trademark registered, even minimally.
For example, it has a name like “SoftMicrotech.com”, a legitimate company name with only a slight resemblance to Microsoft. With the new UDRP laws, Microsoft could sue you for $100,000 outright, even if you can prove the name was used for legitimate reasons. $100,000 is just the minimum amount under the new UDRP laws, which can land innocent name owners in trouble.
Compounding their misery is the arrogant attitude of large corporations, who have been indiscriminate in suing domain owners. eBay, for example, routinely sends cease and desist letters to people who own domains with the word “Bay.” These are often the names of geographic units, such as the Chesapeake Bay (which, of course, eBay has no trademark rights to). However, innocent people have been victimized courtesy of the new laws and the attitude of big business.
My solution would be to carefully review your domain portfolio and rule out any names that might infringe on a prominent trademark, even if it’s purely coincidental. It’s better to be safe than to shell out $100,000.