Letters
Illegal Internet goldmine
Your recent article “Prospectors strike gold in Website names” is misleading. The practice of registering and selling well known domain names by people with no legitimate interest in the name is known as
“cybersquatting”.
It has caused a great deal of trouble on the Internet generally and to several Pacific countries specifically, and is no longer allowed.
Recent decisions by the World Intellectual Property Organization, legislation in the US, and ICANN (the body that sets policy for Internet names) have all found the practice illegal when it involves trademarked names or when it adversely affects top-level country codes (such as the famous dot-tv).
At one time, it was possible to profit from registering generic words, but the current climate will prevent even this when it infringes on the rights of established businesses and organisations.
There may have been gold in Internet names in the past, but in the future only legitimate users of recognised names will be able to register them.
Dr Robert Guild
Economic Infrastructure Adviser South Pacific Forum Secretariat Suva