This is a preliminary inquiry whether there are other members of the public who have
attempted to pre-register ".info" domain names through Afilias-approved registrars
for the "Start-Up" or "Land-Rush" registration periods, who do not hold trademarks
on those names, and have found one or more of those domain names to have been registered
by others during the Afilias Sunrise registration period with fraudulent or unqualified
trademark information to support the registrant's domain name application.This
is also an inquiry whether there are qualified attorneys willing to assist our class
of domain registrants in bringing civil action against Afilias Ltd. and ICANN, to
halt the .info domain registration process, to enforce an equitable method of allocating
.info domain names to applicants, to relieve applicants of burdensome fees that may
be required to pursue their claims, and to award monetary damages and attorney's
fees to plaintiffs.
Afilias has shown thus far in its Sunrise registration process
that it is incapable of distinguishing between bona-fide Sunrise domain applications
and unqualified domain applications. Afilias has accepted unqualified domain
applications into its processing queues and allowed them to become comingled with
qualified Trademarked domain applications in Afilias' same registration queues, and
has processed the comingled group of applications and awarded .info domain names
to both qualified and unqualified applicants. By such action, Afilias has breached
its agreement with ICANN to conduct separate registration periods for Trademarked
vs. Public (non-trademarked) domain names.
Furthermore, when clear and ample proof
of fraudulent trademark information for large numbers of domain names has been provided
to Afilias for corrective action, no corrective action has been taken by Afilias
either to cancel or suspend the fraudulent domain registrations, or to change its
policy to prevent or reduce further fraud during the Sunrise domain registration
period.
A suitable resolution of this matter, without further legal procedings,
would be for all Sunrise domain registrations to be subjected to immediate, automatic
"Sunrise Challenge", entirely at Afilias' expense, without payment of fees by domain
registrants or by Challengers, without required filings of individual Sunrise Challenge
petitions except by registrants who believe they have a legitimate qualified trademark.
The Start-Up (Land-Rush) registration period should be delayed until the entire Sunrise
Challenge is completed and all non-qualified Sunrise domain registrations are cancelled
and the domain names returned to the pool of unregistered names, before the Start-Up
period begins.
If you are a similarly-minded member of the public, or an attorney
who is qualified to assist in this matter, please respond by email.
Thank you.