"Re-Registrations" are NOT "Registrations" of a Domain under ACPA

According to a recent Ninth Circuit Ruling (see Gopets Ltd. v. Edward Hise, 08-56110 (9th Cir. 2011)), "Re-Registrations" of a Domain (i.e. renewal, sale of all rights) is not a “Registration” within the meaning of § 1125(d)(1) of the ACPA.

ICANN Approval of New TLDs

"During a special meeting, the Board approved a plan to dramatically increase the number of Internet domain name endings -- called generic top-level domains (gTLDs) -- from the current 22, which includes such familiar domains as .com, .org and .net." See: http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-20jun11-en.htm

NewYorkNewYork

New York-New York Hotel & Casino, LLC v. Katzin, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115034 (D. Nev. Oct. 27, 2010) - What constitutes lower Anti-Cybersquatting damages? In this case: "Katzin also removed the plaintiff's marks from the website shortly after this lawsuit was filed. Accordingly, the Court will award statutory damages of $1,000.00 and nominal damages for corrective advertising of $1,000.00."

Register the Copyright for Your Website

If you are like most small companies, you have probably hired a web designer to build and design your website. Accordingly, you should consider entering into a contract with the designer to make sure that you own all of the design and materials on your site.

Under copyright law, if there is no contract, the designer will own all that they design as they are the individual(s) that 'created' the material. Accordingly, a contract should specify that all designs are a “work for hire” and that all ownership is transferred to you, the business owner (see http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ09.pdf for a description of the “work for hire” doctrine).

ICANN Domain gTLD Expansion

With many more people coming online, there are a lot of similar ideas
for domain names. If your domain is taken in the .com, you have the
option of registering a .net, .org, or a limited number of other TLDs,
which includes country code TLDs (e.g. .US).

Now ICANN has opened up the possibility of multiple new TLDs to allow
for 'vanity' TLDs (see announcement here:
http://icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-4-26jun08-en.htm).

Although the new possibility may not be available until early 2009,
once it starts, there will be many new TLD options that may cater to
everyone's needs, especially those with specific target industries
(similar to .travel today).

Look forward to new online storefronts next year!