The Great Internet Brand Rip-Off
Business Week has an article on what they call the “growing practice of ‘domain tasting’” saying it’s creating headaches for large companies. The article uses Verizon as an example noting their attorney regularly searches for domain names with variations of Verizon’s name. In mid-December, the story notes she uncovered a domains such as verizonpicture.com, vorizonringtone.com, and varizoncellularphone.com. Jay Westerdal, chief executive officer of the domain consultancy firm Name Intelligence is quoted as saying that 4 million domains are being tested on any one day. The story blames the practice on ICANN with the introduction of the “Create Grace period”. Some companies are taking legal action, such as Neiman Marcus with their attorney likening domain tasting to gun control – “Are guns unlawful to own? No. But they can be used for unlawful purposes. So can the system of domain tasting.” The estimated 25-30 firms who are the prolific insist they do nothing wrong. The article also quotes Tim Cole who notes that they need to consult with the domain name industry before a change of policy could possibly take place.
http://businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2006/tc20061215_022904.htm
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