I am interested in peoples acceptance of cyber-squatters.  I do agree that
domains should be allowed to be onsold.  It is quite possible for
organisations in different industries to have the same trading name and
therefore be allowed to register a domain which would be suited both.  A
great exmaple is the recent division of Telstra which has spawned "NDC",
but ndc.com.au is owned by another legitimate business.  Apparantly
Telstra are interested in obtaining that domain.  If ndc.com.au decides
against selling, tough to Telstra I guess.

However, if someone register's a domain which they know will be wanted
real bad by someone else, that's what I have a problem with.  I have seen
examples where cyber-squatters have gotten away with this and made a lot
of money in the process.

Encouragingly, I am starting to see more and more cases of cyber-squatters
being taken to court and losing.  barrydiller.com was recently taken from
squatters who were trying to sell it to the highest bidder.  Obviously
Barry Diller (a American millionare) would want to protect is name from
being bought by a porn site or something like that.  He won his case in a
court of law.

I agree with the .com.au policy in regards to ACN and business names.
Their policy on general catagories and place names is something I have
problems with, but that's another thread :)

What are other peoples thoughts on cyber-squatting?

________ Craig ___ craig§cac.nu ___ www.cac.nu/~craig _________
        Stress is when you wake up screaming, and then
        you realize that you haven't fallen asleep yet
  

On Thu, 2 Dec 1999, Mark Davidson wrote:

> Interesting question posed by Stephen. Makes me want to ask a few questions
> 
> If my business has a domain, and I sell my business, why should I not be able to sell my domain with the business?
> 
> Like real estate, some domains will be worth more than others. What is wrong with that?
> 
> If no-one else wants a domain and I register it, why shouldn't I be able to sell it to the highest bidder?
> 
> If someone's rights are being infringed, they can choose to do something about it. If no rights are infringed, why shouldn't someone be able to buy and then on-sell domains?
> 
> In short, although I am not the sort of person who registers domains in order simply to on-sell them, I don't see what is wrong with doing it - so long, of course, as no-one is misled, and no trade mark or other rights are infringed. Perhaps the answers to these questions  will show me where I am missing the point.
> 
> 
> 
> Cheers to all,
> Mark
> 
> 
> stephen loosley wrote:
> 
> > Hello AuDA
> >
> > Simply a question .. are we going to see (and, do we really want?) domain-name on-selling here in .au?
> >
> > For example ...
> >
> >  > From: "politicsonline" <politicsonline&#167;politicsonline.com>
> > Subject: PoliticsOnline Announces Online Auction of White House 2000 Domain Names
> > Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 18:17:22 -0500
> >
> > <blah company> announced today that they are auctioning off three of the HOTTEST URL�s in politics.
> >
> > Up for bid are the following:
> >
> >                 www.WhiteHouse2000.com
> >                 www.WhiteHouse2000.net
> >                 www.WhiteHouse2000.org
> >
> > �These are literally the hottest names in US politics right now�, said PoliticsOnline President Phil Noble. �We expect a lot of competition for these valuable names from all sorts of news and political organizations. <PS so far the bidding has reached all of $130> We bought these names two years ago with no idea as to what we would do with them. They were just too good to pass up�, said Noble. �It would be nice to make a few bucks but mostly we just want to see what will happen when such great names go up for sale.�   <blah blah>
> > --
> >
> > Happy trails ..
> > Stephen Loosley
> > www.stephen.hm
> >
> > --
> > This article is not to be reproduced or quoted beyond this forum without
> > express permission of the author.  You don't know who really wrote it.
> > 271 subscribers. Archived at http://lists.waia.asn.au/list/dns (dns/dns)
> > Email "unsubscribe" to dns-request&#167;waia.asn.au to be removed.
> 
> --
> This article is not to be reproduced or quoted beyond this forum without
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> Email "unsubscribe" to dns-request&#167;waia.asn.au to be removed.
>