It has once again come to the attention of the
IEDR that a company operating under the name
?Internet Register Ireland? is in the process of
contacting businesses with registered .ie domain
names by post and by fax, soliciting them to
register their domain name with the ?Internet
Register Ireland?. The ?Internet Register
Ireland?, a German based company will request you
to fill out their form and return it to them
signed. It should be noted that they charge an
excessive fee of approximately ?958 for the
registration of the .ie domain name in their database.
We would like to reassure all of our customers
that no such organisation has been authorised to
act on behalf of the IEDR. If you are contacted
in this manner we would recommend that you
disregard this letter and advise your customers to be aware of this activity.
The IEDR are responding to enquiries from
concerned domain holders, by recommending them to
contact an official IE Reseller if they require
any further Internet services for their website.
Please see example below of a invoice you might receive from them
internet-register-ireland.pdf
September 17th, 2007
Domain name renewal scams have been going on for years. Typically, the scammer sends a fake invoice in the mail or an e-mail that says a domain renewal fee needs to be paid or the domain will be deleted. By paying the ?invoice?, you are actually agreeing to transfer your domain to the scammer?s registrar.
For full deteails please click here
Source: http://domainnamewire.com/2007/07/16/new-domain-name-renewal-scam-hits-inoxes
July 23rd, 2007
Something that came up this afternoon was the question,
“Why would domain squatters take some really obscure domain name?”
The depressing truth of it is that there are people out there waiting
for you not to pay your bills.
Once your domain expires, passes through the redemption period and finally
lapses, the squatters swoop in and take the domain.
This is for two purposes.
The first is a kind of blackmail, if you really want your name back (and who
wouldn’t?) you’re likely to be willing to pay much more for it than it would
have cost to renew it. Think in terms of ticket touts of the Internet.
The second purpose is to use your good name to promote all manner of things.
They use these domains to put up a little page of links, and thus drive a
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) business. That way they can use whatever
page-rank you had to drive their promotion business.
The moral of the story? Renew your domains in good time and make sure your
contact details are up to date so that the advance warning of domain expiry
reach you.
July 13th, 2007
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) warns trademark owners that they face increased risks from cybersquatters.
The report observes, “While electronic commerce has flourished with the expansion of the Internet, recent developments in the domain name registration system have fostered practices which threaten the interests of trademark owners and cause consumer confusion.” Further, the report states “domain names used to be primarily specific identifiers of businesses and other Internet users, but many [domain] names nowadays are mere commodities for speculative gain.”
Two related practices the report cites, which represent the greatest threat to trademark owners are (1) the proliferation of automated domain registration systems and (2) domain “tasting.”
Automated Domain Registration Systems
The use of computer software to automatically register domain names has increased dramatically. In some cases, the software user either manually enters trademarks or the software pulls trademarks from lists or the USPTO database. The software then uses advanced algorithms to automatically register any available domains that are the same or similar to the trademarks, combinations of the trademark and generic terms, and possible mistyping of the trademark. In other cases, the software may combine dictionary terms, register any expiring domain name, or even register at random. After the domains are registered, Pay-per-Click (PPC) advertising links are placed on these sites to generate revenue for the domain owner. These links are either randomly generated or generated by using the trademark and/or generic terms for the goods and services as keywords that are already established with search engine advertising networks like Google AdWords.
Domain Tasting
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) warns trademark owners that they face increased risks from cybersquatters.
The report observes, “While electronic commerce has flourished with the expansion of the Internet, recent developments in the domain name registration system have fostered practices which threaten the interests of trademark owners and cause consumer confusion.” Further, the report states “domain names used to be primarily specific identifiers of businesses and other Internet users, but many [domain] names nowadays are mere commodities for speculative gain.”
Two related practices the report cites, which represent the greatest threat to trademark owners are (1) the proliferation of automated domain registration systems and (2) domain “tasting.”
Automated Domain Registration Systems
The use of computer software to automatically register domain names has increased dramatically. In some cases, the software user either manually enters trademarks or the software pulls trademarks from lists or the USPTO database. The software then uses advanced algorithms to automatically register any available domains that are the same or similar to the trademarks, combinations of the trademark and generic terms, and possible mistyping of the trademark. In other cases, the software may combine dictionary terms, register any expiring domain name, or even register at random. After the domains are registered, Pay-per-Click (PPC) advertising links are placed on these sites to generate revenue for the domain owner. These links are either randomly generated or generated by using the trademark and/or generic terms for the goods and services as keywords that are already established with search engine advertising networks like Google AdWords.
Domain Tasting
Domain tasting refers to registrants (or registrars) taking advantage of a rule which allows a registrar to avoid registration fees if it deletes a domain within 5 days of registration. The computer software that automatically registers domains similar to trademarks leverages this rule by monitoring the traffic to the domains it has registered for the first 4 days and deleting any domain that does not receive enough traffic to generate at least the cost of registration in Pay-Per-Click advertising revenue. The report concludes that as a result of computer applications, tens of millions of domain names are temporarily registered on this basis each month
Click here for full story
July 2nd, 2007