Mr Vergote works in the legal and policy team with the .be registry.

The election took place at the organisation’s meeting earlier today in Salzburg.

The previous chair was Mathieu Wiell, AFNIC’s CEO.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Peter Vergote New Chair of CENTR is an article from Domain Industry & Internet News - Domain Name Industry News

What’s so scary?

This part of the UDRP decision:

Complainant asserts that Respondent has failed to make an active use of the disputed domain name, constituting bad faith registration and use.  Complainant submits a printout verifying its assertion that the website is essentially inactive.  The only content included on the website is the phrase “Coming Soon” and the prominent display of Complainant’s mark.  Therefore, the Panel finds that Respondent has failed to make an active use of the disputed domain name, which is a clear example of bad faith registration and use under Policy ¶ 4(a)(iii).  See Disney Enters. Inc. v. Meyers, FA 697818 (Nat. Arb. Forum June 26, 2006) (holding that the non-use of a disputed domain name for several years constitutes bad faith registration and use under Policy ¶ 4(a)(iii); see also Am. Broad. Cos., Inc. v. Sech, FA 893427 (Nat. Arb. Forum Feb. 28, 2007) (concluding that the respondent’s failure to make active use of its domain name in the three months after its registration indicated that the respondent registered the disputed domain name in bad faith).

That sounds a lot like saying that an unused domain is being “used” in bad faith. Of course the addition of the complainant’s “mark” on the holding page might have been persuasive, but I wonder would other arbiters view the decision in the same way?

Use It Or Lose It? UDRP Hits New Low is an article from Domain Industry & Internet News - Domain Name Industry News

Image by kieren mccarthy via Flickr

Nominet, the domain registry for the .uk ccTLD, has published a draft “member code”.

Nominet’s structure means that its registrars are also “members” of the organisation, so this move is quite an interesting one. You can read the draft text on the Nominet site here.

From an initial reading the “code” appears to be quite “light” and doesn’t impose any onerous obligations on Nominet members, though some will probably take issue with it. That’s to be expected when you have a large and diverse membership!

The wording of the code suggests that it would be obligatory for all members and that members that breach it could face penalties. However the penalties in the current draft do not appear to have any impact on a member’s ability to register and manage domain names, so it might be a bit “toothless”.

Where the committee decides that a Member has breached the Code, it may, having taken all relevant circumstances into account:

    require the Member to remedy the breach; and/or
    require an assurance from the Member, or any associated individual, relating to future behaviour, in terms determined by the committee; and/or
    suspend the Member’s voting rights without any reimbursement of membership fees in whole or in part; and/or
    suspend the Member’s right to make use of the Nominet member logo and associated member marks; and/or
    at its absolute discretion, publish part or all of its decision.

Considering the low turnout in Nominet elections and votes removing a member’s voting rights is unlikely to weed out any “bad actors”, though, as this is but a draft, the language may change significantly before being finalised.

Members are invited to provide feedback on the proposed code by February 23rd.

Nominet Publish Draft Member Code is an article from Domain Industry & Internet News - Domain Name Industry News

Image via Wikipedia

EU commissioner Neelie Kroes has been critical of SOPA and suggests that the EU would not introduce legislation of this kind.

Of course Kroes can only speak for the EU commission and possibly only for that part of it that she’s in charge of.

Several member states have been discussing legislative measures that are very similar to SOPA.

In Ireland, for example, the Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation and Education & Skills Sean Sherlock is making noises about placating the copyright lobbyists. Exact details of the legislation being tabled is sketchy unfortunately.

Related articles

• EU Internet czar piles on, says SOPA is bad news (news.cnet.com)

Kroes Says No To EU SOPA is an article from Domain Industry & Internet News - Domain Name Industry News

Image by kieren mccarthy via Flickr

If you’re interested in heading up an international organisation, like plenty of travel and a nice fat salary, then maybe you might want to apply for the job as ICANN’s CEO.

Applications close on February 17th (nicely spotted Kevin!)

Want To Run ICANN? is an article from Domain Industry & Internet News - Domain Name Industry News

It doesn’t matter that SOPA might be “dead”. There will be other legislation that is just as bad ..

Image by blacknight via Flickr

This Site Is Going Dark is an article from Domain Industry & Internet News - Domain Name Industry News

The first case involved infragenius.fr

The case was processed fully in less than a month, with the initial complaint being logged on November 22nd 2011 and the decision being handed down on December 19th 2011.

The first case was pretty simple and wasn’t that contentious with the registrant being a former manager of the complainant company.

What is a little different is that the resolution provider appears to be AFNIC staff and not an neutral 3rd party. Handling simple complaints like this one might be ok, but are they going to work out as well when they have to deal with the really complex ones?

First Decision Under New French Dispute System Published is an article from Domain Industry & Internet News - Domain Name Industry News

Karim .pro's CEO

Afilias has acquired .pro (RegistryPro)

I assume they’ll move the registry backend to the Afilias system at some point, though managing that transition is going to be awkward.

Here’s the release:

DUBLIN, Jan 17, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Afilias Limited, the ICANN-designated registry operator for the .INFO top level domain (TLD) and a global provider of domain registry services, today announced that it has acquired Registry Services Corporation (d.b.a. RegistryPRO), the ICANN-designated operator of the .PRO TLD, from Hostway Corporation. This brings to 17 the number of top-level domains that Afilias supports, including seven generic TLDs (gTLD) operating under ICANN contracts and seven new TLDs launched since 2001.

Under the terms of the deal, Karim Jiwani will be the President of RegistryPRO and continue to spearhead .PRO growth initiatives, leveraging Afilias’ technology.

Jiwani said, “I am excited that the .PRO domain will soon be able to take advantage of Afilias’ market-leading registry services platform to give .PRO customers the best possible service. In the meantime, we’ll be operating on a business-as-usual basis until the migration plan is complete.”

“Since its 2004 launch, the .PRO domain has helped professionals in a variety of fields across the world enhance their visibility on the Internet,” said Hal Lubsen, CEO of Afilias. “But it takes attention, dedication and resources to help a TLD achieve its full strategic potential. That’s why Afilias, which is focused on building TLDs, is excited to have .PRO join our portfolio of growing, successful domains.”

Afilias provides registry and DNS services for over 20 million domains, including more than eight million .INFO domains and one million .MOBI domains registered worldwide. In addition, Afilias supports .ORG, .AERO, .ASIA, .AG (Antigua and Barbuda), .BZ (Belize), .GI (Gibraltar), .HN (Honduras), .IN (India), .LC (St. Lucia), .ME (Montenegro), .MN (Mongolia), .SC (the Seychelles), .VC (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) and .XXX.

Related articles

• Afilias Limited Acquires .Mobi Domain Registry And Expands Market Leadership (prweb.com)

Afilias Acquires .Pro is an article from Domain Industry & Internet News - Domain Name Industry News

Yes – foxstudios.xxx and asking a crazy high price for it

As Kevin reports Fox have now filed a UDRP.

Prediction – unless Fox’s complaint is submitted on toilet paper this will be a slam dunk win for them.

Tip: Do not register domain names that are an exact or close match to well known trademarks / company names. You will lose the domain.

Fox Files UDRP Over XXX Domain is an article from Domain Industry & Internet News - Domain Name Industry News

Image by blacknight via Flickr

Obviously I’m not the only person who is more than a little cynical about SOPA, or the retraction / shelving, cal it what you will of the legislation.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has made it clear that he’s not considering SOPA “dead” until the proverbial fat lady sings.

More coverage on Financial Times

Related articles

• Wikipedia will go dark to protest SOPA/PIPA (boingboing.net)
• Wikipedia will shut down for 24 hours on Wednesday to protest against SOPA (thenextweb.com)
• Wikipedia to join Web blackout protesting SOPA – CBS News (hidinginurcloset.wordpress.com)
• Wikipedia Shutting Down For 24 Hours To Protest SOPA Piracy Bill (paidcontent.org)
• Wikipedia to join reddit in SOPA blackout Wednesday (arstechnica.com)
• Wikipedia shuts down for 24 hours this Wednesday in SOPA protest (ubergizmo.com)
• Wikipedia goes nuclear against SOPA: founder confirms site blackout (venturebeat.com)
• Wikipedia To Go Dark In Protest Of SOPA (huffingtonpost.com)
• So is SOPA Dead? Not Exactly – Forbes (forbes.com)

Wikipedia To Go Dark In Protest Against SOPA is an article from Domain Industry & Internet News - Domain Name Industry News