Public DomainWritten by Kevin Sullivan
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education in America today? What would happen if someone typed in "wiGDetcompany.com"? Misspellings of your domain count just same as correct one. Poor spellers, after all, need your services as much as good ones do. If you're in doubt, find some people that don't already know your company's name. Tell them name, and then have them write it out on paper. You might be surprised at creative variations of your name they'll come up with. Reserve those "mistake" names- they'll count as hits, too. Real-life example- Hewlett-Packard. Not easiest name to spell, right? Their official website at hp.com can also be reached by hewlettpackard.com, hewlittpackard.com, hewlitpackard.com and other assorted misspellings. OK, you make widgets. You should have "widgets.com". If you make red widgets, you should also own "redwidgets.com". If you make small widgets, you should get "smallwidgets.com" and so on. You spend your time marketing these product names, you should expect that someone would remember it and go looking for it online. Real-life example- Procter & Gamble. P&G owns around 200 domains, including pampers.com, pringles.com, tide.com, clearasil.com, folgers.com and many, many more.Having these domains gives you a competitive advantage. You can get more traffic just from these simple tricks. I've seen webmasters spend a lot of money on advertising, hiring search-engine submission specialists and like. Now that cost of domains has dropped more than 50% in past year (less than $15.00 at company I consult for), it's actually one of more affordable things you can do to get eyeballs to your site.
Kevin Sullivan is a consultant for the domain registrar ItsYourDomain.com. Kevin has been in the domain registration business for about 2 years, ever since ICANN mandated open competition. Kevin can be reached online at www.itsyourdomain.com or by emailing sully@itsyourdomain.com"
| | Domain Name Dispute ResolutionWritten by John MacKenzie
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3.The domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith. A series of examples of bad faith are given in ICANN policy document. A recent case heard by WIPO arbitration and mediation centre demonstrates effectiveness of procedures. In Digitronics Inventioneering Corporation -v- @Six.Net Registered two domain names in question were "sixnet.com" and "six.net". The complaint was submitted electronically to WIPO Centre on 17th January 2000 and a Panel appointed. The claimant alleged that domain name holder had no rights or legitimate interests in respect of domain name and that domain name had been registered in bad faith. The Panel decided that respondent had been known by domain name "Sixnet" even though it had acquired no trademark or servicemark rights. As complainer had failed to establish that @Six.Net had no rights or legitimate interests in domain name application was refused. Of particular interest is fact that respondents were a Canadian company and claimants were registered in New York. Using WIPO Panel complex jurisdictional problems were avoided. The decision was issued on 1st March 2000 only six weeks after claim was raised. Using WIPO arbitration and mediation centre parties were able to come to a cost effective resolution to an International dispute within specified timescale of between 45 and 50 days.
John MacKenzie is a Solicitor Advocate and Associate with Masons in Glasgow. He advises IT companies on Internet, intellectual property and data protection issues. If you would like more information on the domain name dispute resolution process, or have problems with domain names then please contact John MacKenzie on +(44) 141 248 4858. You can e-mail him at john.mackenzie@masons.com.
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