Domain Name Disputes At An All-Time High
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The Wall Street Journal has a detailed look at the growing number of domain disputes over the years, from one in 1999 to 2,156 in 2007. They suggest that if there are any securitisation lawyers out there looking for work, they suggest litigating domain name disputes!
Scary statistics if you really read into it and only a small fraction of what is to come as more companies realize they have been loosing thousands of dollars because of typos and trademark infringement. Additionally, we will see a rise in companies filing complaints trying to secure valuable generic names that are in the grey area through reverse domain hijacking.
The visionaries and pioneers in the geo domain industry have weathered these storms for us and have enabled the industry to mature into what it is today. If you conduct a search on WIPO, you will find many generic city.com names that were challenged over the years. The determination of owners and winning high profile judgements has made Geo domains some of the safest domain investments to own.
Rick Schwartz had some interesting statements to say in the DNJournal.com’s State Of the Industry along this subject. Companies are finding alternate ways to take valuable domains without having to file a dispute. Time to will tell exactly what these new tactics are evolving into.
What are your thoughts?
There is no question that 2008 will be the most challenging year ever for domain owners and investors. While domainers are having a grand old time their livelihoods are in peril and few really even want to know about it. Combine that with the abuse that domainers themselves are guilty of and I will tell you that the biggest threat lays within the industry. Apathy, greed, wrong doing will surely put us all in jeopardy. While we do these things, our enemy is organizing and they will change rules and laws that will take YOUR domains and the earnings they currently make for you and your families and are actively trying to shift those dollars to their pockets for them and their families.
