I'd like to ask a question about Spy Productions.
As many of you know, I am sifting through 100's of names being e-mailed into me before
placing them on my website www.theinternetchallenge.comA quick sift through my
site will reveal a wide variation of "invented" Trademark numbers. However, when
you get to the many generic (and highly improbable) Trademark names registered through
Spy Productions, the vast majority have an identical date (1995-06-06).
Moreover,
all the (different) trademark numbers are strikingly similar to one another. Take
a look and see! Unlike any other claimants on the list from the rest of the world,
they all start with the same 2 or 3 figures, and sometimes the same 5 figures, presumably
to make them look like they all got registered at that same date.
Now I've heard
it argued that repeat dates are down to a 'default' or a technical glitch. If that
was so, the Trademark numbers would be wildly different to reflect all the wide range
of years. They'd be wildly different anyway, because everywhere else, individuals
have invented wildly different numbers! In contrast the Spy Production numbers are
uniformly consistent from multiple applicants.
But it seems possible to me (look
for yourself) that some ONE individual has invented all these closely-similar numbers
for all these different customers.
This suggests either registrar-level insertion,
or an individual posing as many individuals.
But note: the staff employee himself,
Lars Hindley - who appears as Spy Production's Tech contact in all the registrations
and on their website as "the full-time employee"- has also applied for names using
exactly the same number system. In other words, he is consistent to whoever has 'matched'
all the other consistent numbers. (Which tends to rule out an individual from outside
the organisation?) Not only that, but he is billed for other people sometimes (eg
beautiful.info and Christmas.info)
His application for beach.info has the fairly
flukily numbered TM: 13812345 - but there you go, numbers happen like that sometimes.
Nevertheless, it is within the same consistent number pattern which appears NOWHERE
else in my list of over 500 names from other registrars.
Now what I'm really asking
is: who runs Spy Productions? And will ICAAN or Afilias act with regard to their
accreditation BEFORE the Landrush phase, if it turns out they have been mass-registering
Sunrise names with invented numbers (which would be deception and fraud, wouldn't
it?). I'm not saying they have. I don't know.
This message is not meant to be an
outright accusation. But I'm saying: are there enough issues here to raise serious
questioning and investigation?
Thank you for your attention.
Richy Henderson