vcerf@mci.net, vcerf@icann.org, lynn@icann.org, halloran@icann.org,
hcarle@afilias.info, rlaplante@afilias.infoDear Vint, Stuart, Dan, Heather and
Roland,
Please refute that, in light of the events of the .INFO roll-out, it appears
that the registrar members of ICANN and Afilias have colluded to practice deception
on the Internet community, have aided and abetted other registrars and individuals
in their fraudulent claims to IP rights to names and their registration of names
in the Sunrise period, and that, if you don't announce an equitable solution for
Landrush applicants holding pre-registration agreements for names fraudulently claimed
in Sunrise, you plan to misappropriate their money.
Please refute that you have
treated the .INFO Landrush applicants like suckers and that they as a group of customers
or clients they never really had a chance in your lottery for a crack at the names
that have been hijacked by fraudulent claims by registrars, corporations, and individuals.
You stacked the deck, well and good!.
I will give you some examples of what the
Landrush applicants have been up against.
The first is that of your registrars
going in to bat against their clients in what apparently is an Afilias and ICANN
sanctioned activity as I believe that the "registrar reserve" is one of the benefits
of being in business with Afilias.
Domain Name: STUFF.INFO
Created On: 2001-JUL-31 19:09:01.0
UTC
Expiration Date: 2011-JUL-31 19:09:01.0 UTC
Trademark Name: Registrar Reserved
Trademark Date:
Registrar Reserved
Trademark Country: Registrar Reserved
Trademark Number: Registrar Reserved
Sponsoring
Registrar: 5003-ED
Status: NEW
Status: LOCKED
Status: OK
Registrant ID: C223-LRMS
Registrant Name: Barry
Fellman
Registrant Organization: 123 EasyDomain
Registrant Street1: 4021 Laguna Street
Registrant City:
Miami
Registrant State/Province: Florida
Registrant Postal Code: 33146
Registrant Country:
US
Registrant Phone: +1.3054466811
Registrant Fax: +1.3054463456
Registrant Email: bfellman@signaturedomains.com
You
have seen the Internet community's response to SPY Productions promoting the submission
of fraudulent Sunrise applications, you can imagine the way we feel when we see the
evidence of your - Afilias and ICANN's - promoting fraudulent Sunrise application
through Afilias's Registrar Agreements.
Looks to me that your registrars were permitted
to push themselves to the head of the queue of fraudulent applicants.
Tell me that
I am wrong and I will publically apologise.
Why are the Landrush applicants as
mad as hell? Because we believed that while the game was risky, it was going
to be fair. I will quote you your words from the Afilias .INFO Rollout Schedule:
"In
order to create a system that's fair and orderly for all, Afilias will roll out .INFO
in stages."
Hmm, what do you make of that? Fair? Well, you and your
registrars seem to have done OK. Orderly? If you call a buffalo charge
of fraudsters orderly, then it was orderly.
I will quote you more of your assuring
words:
"The Sunrise Period exists so that the owners of registered trademarks and
service marks (registered as of October, 2000) may formally and officially register
their marks in the .INFO domain. The Sunrise Period is designed to protect
intellectual property, prevent cybersquatting, and provide time for IP dispute resolution."
It
is apparent to all observers of this fiasco that the Sunrise Period was not designed
to protect those with bona fide IP rights, nor prevent cybersquatting. The
naïve like me believed that IP dispute resolution would take place between those
with bona fide rights to the same name.
Instead, you are going to have to purge,
what, 90% of the .INFO registry as it stands, compromised by what I hope will always
be the worst case of institutionalised cybersquatting the Internet will ever see.
This must never be allowed to recur.
Why are the Landrush applicants - and I guess
a few legitimate Sunrise applicants - as mad as hell with your management of the
.INFO roll-out, it's because, despite the evidence to the contrary, your most recent
public announce (23 August) would have the public believe that you have been responsible
for a momentous event in the history of the Internet as gauged by the total number
of domains registered, the broad appeal of .INFO as gauged by the global participation,
and you trumpet, the participation of the corporate world's market leaders.
Not
surprisingly, you make no reference to the institutionalised deception and fraud,
the Landrush Phase or Landrush applicants, or the reality of the corporate involvement
in the Sunrise Period - they too are apparently engaged in fraud.
An example:
Domain Name:
ALUMINUM.INFO
Created On: 2001-JUL-27 19:26:27.0 UTC
Expiration Date: 2006-JUL-27 19:26:27.0
UTC
Trademark Name: ALUMINUM
Trademark Date: 0200-01-02
Trademark Country: US
Trademark Number: 00000000
Sponsoring
Registrar: 5035-CD
Status: NEW
Status: LOCKED
Status: OK
Registrant ID: C17987-LRMS
Registrant Name: Domain
Names
Registrant Organization: Alcoa Inc.
Registrant Street1: 100 Technical Drive
Registrant Street2:
BUilding C Legal - IPLD
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City: Alcoa Center
Registrant State/Province:
Pennsylvania
Registrant Postal Code: 15069-0001
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.7243372768
Registrant
Fax: +1.7243375959
Registrant Email: domain.names@alcoa.com
And the British and Australian
variant on the spelling:
Domain Name: ALUMINIUM.INFO
Created On: 2001-JUL-27 19:26:29.0 UTC
Expiration Date:
2006-JUL-27 19:26:29.0 UTC
Trademark Name: ALUMINIUM
Trademark Date: 0200-01-02
Trademark Country:
US
Trademark Number: 00000000
Sponsoring Registrar: 5035-CD
Status: NEW
Status: LOCKED
Status: OK
Registrant ID:
C17989-LRMS
Registrant Name: Domain Names
Registrant Organization: Alcoa Inc.
Registrant Street1:
100 Technical Drive
Registrant Street2: BUilding C Legal - IPLD
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:
Alcoa Center
Registrant State/Province: Pennsylvania
Registrant Postal Code: 15069-0001
Registrant Country:
US
Registrant Phone: +1.7243372768
Registrant Fax: +1.7243375959
Registrant Email: domain.names@alcoa.com
Now
these just bobbed up during my ongoing research into the scale of the fraud - but
the extent of the corporate involvement may be masked or hidden by the fact that
registrars act on behalf of some clients.
An example:
Domain Name: TIDE.INFO
Created On:
2001-JUL-26 16:27:17.0 UTC
Expiration Date: 2006-JUL-26 16:27:17.0 UTC
Trademark Name: tide
Trademark
Date: 10-01-1946
Trademark Country: US
Trademark Number: 424339
Sponsoring Registrar: 5133-RC
Status:
NEW
Status: LOCKED
Status: OK
Registrant ID: C6743-LRMS
Registrant Name: Account Masking
Registrant Organization:
register.com
Registrant Street1: 575 Eighth Avenue
Registrant Street2:
Registrant City: New York
Registrant State/Province:
NY
Registrant Postal Code: 10018
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.2125949100
Registrant Fax:
+1.2125949876
Registrant Email: accountmasking@register.com
A TM search indicates
that TIDE is indeed a 1946 TM with two more zeros in front of the registration quoted
here. The TM is owned by Proctor&Gamble on a design or distinctive rendering
of the word TIDE, the name of a detergent, and provides the owner with no more exclusive
rights to the use of the word than you or me.
Why am I personally as mad as hell
with you for orchestrating this fiasco, it's because you appear set on compounding
your errors and denying me a chance to win names for which I have paid a lot of money
in pre-registration agreements with some of you and your accredited registrars.
The
following are names for which I had bought a total of 36 pre-registrations in one-name-once-only
Landrush queues, up until the time it became apparent that the Afilias .INFO roll-out
was perhaps fatally flawed and Afilias apparently was prepared to forget all about
the Landrush applicants and their applications.
Domain Name: CONFERENCE.INFO
Created On: 2001-AUG-15 04:20:02.0 UTC
Expiration Date: 2006-AUG-15
04:20:02.0 UTC
Trademark Name: conference
Trademark Date: 2000-10-01
Trademark Country: US
Trademark Number:
65275
Sponsoring Registrar: 5117-NS
Status: NEW
Status: LOCKED
Status: OK
Registrant ID: C161631-LRMS
Registrant
Name: Not Provided
Registrant Organization: Organization Name
Registrant Street1: StreetAddress
Registrant
City: City
Registrant State/Province: State
Registrant Postal Code: 99999
Registrant Country: DE
Registrant Phone:
+1.5555555555
Registrant Fax: +1.5555555555
Registrant Email: tomaszb@gmx.net
Admin ID: C161632-LRMS
Admin
Name: Attn: info Registration Inquiries
Admin Organization: Verisign, Inc.
Domain Name:
UNIVERSITIES.INFO
Created On: 2001-AUG-15 05:43:46.0 UTC
Expiration Date: 2006-AUG-15 05:43:46.0
UTC
Trademark Name: universities
Trademark Date: 2000-10-01
Trademark Country: US
Trademark Number:
e.g. 12345
Sponsoring Registrar: 5117-NS
Status: NEW
Status: LOCKED
Status: OK
Registrant ID: C163376-LRMS
Registrant
Name: Not Provided
Registrant Organization: Microware Exceltek, Inc.
Registrant Street1:
StreetAddress
Registrant City: City
Registrant State/Province: State
Registrant Postal Code:
94015
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.6509926900
Registrant Fax: +1.5555555555
Registrant Email:
MicrowareIC@hotmail.com
Admin ID: C163377-LRMS
Admin Name: Attn: info Registration Inquiries
Admin
Organization: Verisign, Inc.
Domain Name: WHALES.INFO
Created On: 2001-AUG-20 15:23:57.0
UTC
Expiration Date: 2006-AUG-20 15:23:57.0 UTC
Trademark Name: none
Trademark Date: 2001-08-17
Trademark
Country: none
Trademark Number: none
Sponsoring Registrar: 5043-DB
Status: NEW
Status: LOCKED
Status:
OK
Registrant ID:C172318-LRMS
Registrant Name: StrategicDomains.Com L.L.C.
Registrant Organization:
StrategicDomains.Com
L.L.C.
Registrant Street1: P.O. Box 55
Registrant Street2:
Registrant City:
Fort Erie
Registrant State/Province: Ontario
Registrant Postal Code: L2A 5M6
Registrant Country:
CA
Registrant Phone: +1.7166463063
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Email: theelacht@aol.com
Admin ID: C172320-LRMS
Admin
Name: William Lorenz
Admin Organization: StrategicDomains.Com L.L.C
Domain Name: STUDY.INFO
Created
On: 2001-JUL-31 13:02:41.0 UTC
Expiration Date: 2006-JUL-31 13:02:41.0 UTC
Trademark Name: study
Trademark Date: 1997-08-29
Trademark
Country: KR
Trademark Number: 42-1997-163328
Sponsoring Registrar: 5155-YN
Status: NEW
Status: LOCKED
Status: OK
Registrant ID: C41614-LRMS
Registrant Name: YesNIC
Co., LTD.
Registrant Organization: YesNIC Co., LTD.
Registrant Street1: 2F Shinil Bldg, 143-39, Samsung-Dong,
Kangnam-Gu
Registrant Street2:
Registrant
City: Seoul
Registrant State/Province:
Registrant Postal Code: 135090
Registrant Country: KR
Registrant Phone: +82.25577011
Registrant Fax: +82.25577033
Registrant
Email: info@yesnic.com
Can you see why I am as mad as hell?
Can you see that
I and the other Landrushers would have preferred you had acknowledged the reality
of the .INFO roll-out and rather than heading your press release on 23 August -
AFILIAS
ANNOUNCES GLOBAL ADOPTION OF NEW .INFO DOMAIN
-you had dealt with the sad truth
and headed your release -
AFILIAS ANNOUNCES FRAUDULENT HIJACKING OF THE NEW .INFO
DOMAIN - AND THAT IT PLANS TO SAFEGUARD THE INVESTMENTS AND EXPECTATIONS OF THE HONEST
LANDRUSH APPLICANTS
It sounds funny. It sounds rediculous - especially in
the light of the fact that you have continued to seek and process more fraudulent
Sunrise applications since the time it became apparent fraud on a grand scale was
being practiced.
Can you appreciate that people like me will continue to write
to you for as long as it takes for you to put in place an equitable solution for
the Landrush applicants.
If that fails, then people like me will continue to write
to whomever it takes to have the Afilias affair thoroughly investigated and the frauds
in ICANN purged so that the institution responsible for the administration of the
Internet will in future operate in an ethical, equitable and transparent manner.
There
is still time to adopt the Simple Solution or announce the postponement of Landrush
until the integrity of the .INFO registry is re-established.
Please acknowledge
receipt of this mail and advise me what you personally are doing for a fair shake
for the Landrush applicants.
Thank you.
John Byth