The consumers that played by the rules get screwed.[The
only sanctions discussed by Afilias toward fraudulent registrants are that the 5-year
prepaid registration fees for such domain names will NOT be refunded when the domain
name is successfully challenged.]
This is the REAL reason why AFILIAS still allows
fraudulent registrations to be processed. The MORE fradulent TM registrations,
the more 5-year NON-REFUNDABLE fees that AFILIAS the REGISTRARS get.
At $5.70/year
Registry fee, this is what Afilias gets:
For every 1,000 fraudulent registrations
AFILIAS gets US$28,500 (1000 x 5.70 x 5 years) plus another US$11,400 (1000 x 5.70
x 2 years) when the fraudulent registrations are cancelled and re-registered.
This gives AFILIAS a total of $39,900 per 1,000 names.
If you do the math, Afilias
gets $39.90 for every fraudulent domain name and the name is ultimately ONLY registered
for 2 years. This translates to an equivalent of $19.95/year at the Registry.
Now add all the other costs that Registrars/Resellers are adding and you can see
that the ones that get the shaft are us, the customers that played by the rules.
Do
you see what's happening. Afilias and it's registrars are smiling all the way
to the BANK. All these fraudulent registrations that are still going on represent
$14.25 per Registration Year in additional revenue for AFILIAS.
You make the call.