[ga] From DNForum.com

["Dominik Filipp" <dominik.filipp@xxxxxxxx>]

-----Original Message-----
From: KidsearchNetwork.org [mailto:info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2008 6:54 AM
To: Jeffrey A. Williams
Cc: Dominik Filipp
Subject: Fw: From DNForum.com - please read

> post this on the list please.


----- Original Message -----
From: <sales@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 7:43 PM
Subject: From DNForum.com - please read


Dear DNF members,

We feel it is our duty to bring this to light and make people aware of
what's happening. As you may have heard, Senator Olympia Snow (R-ME) has
very recently introduced a bill that could threaten the future of the
domain name industry and internet commerce. Snowe's bill has been
introduced as the "Anti-Phishing" bill, but contains provisions that are
largely unrelated to these objectives. These provisions radically and
unnecessarily expand the rights of trademark owners to essentially
provide them with monopoly rights on registered trademarks. This would
be to the detriment of millions of individuals and businesses engaged in
lawful and legitimate Internet commerce.

If the bill passed through congress, it may allow large businesses to
take domain names with little to no effort. Trademark owners already
prevail in 85% of all UDRP complaints and nearly 100% of all ACPA cases.
Yet some apparently now wish to establish a new regime for contesting
allegedly "infringing" domains that is tilted even more in their favor
by denying basic due process and substantive protections to domain name
registrants - and that provides the possibility that they can use their
power and influence to sway public officials to expend taxpayer dollars
in defense of private Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs).

The proposal unfairly targets domain name registrants for a widespread
Internet practice - if it's aim is to halt the advertising monetization
of brand names and typographical variations thereof when consumers
engage in direct Internet navigation or in web searches it utterly fails
in that endeavor, as this activity is also engaged in systematically by
search engines, web browsers and ISPs.

We need to do as much as possible to make sure the bill is revised to
serve it's purpose of preventing phishing scams and not to bury domain
name owners. Please sign the petition at http://www.SnoweBill.com to
help in the fight and to review all portions of the bill.

Thank you for your time and attention in this matter.
There are several big discussions taking place right now at
http://www.DNForum.com - please visit the site and perform a search for
"Snowe" to view the threads.

Regards,

DNForum.com Staff