From an e-mail I received on 8th September:
(The information is not mine but the
writer of the letter seems to know what she is talking about, and has posted to this
forum quite a bit recently): "Thank you! Well, it is really incredible! If Afilias
does not act against that one, then their credibility is gone.
The most striking
is Plankenstein's interview published in Tirol.online. You have probably seen on
ICANN Watch the summary in English, but I have read the entire text in German. I
could not believe my eyes. I have rarely seen such an arrogance. The guy who is the
director of Tiscover (his name is not Plankenstein, probably a fictitious name, but
Ebner - it is a really existing, and apparently even well-reputed, tourism portal)
makes no difficulty to admit that he had no TM! and that the alleged TM numbers were
just randomly selected! His argument: anyway, many of those names would have been
taken during Landrush period! And he adds: if people are not happy, they can challenge
us! What a message!!!
You remember my comments about his strategy, and I
think I was right: that guy is certainly aware that he will be challenged for a number
of domains. He won't even attempt to protect them, since he knows that it would be
a loss of money (but the people challenging him will have each time to pay money,
what a shame!). Then he may lose... well 200? 300 domains? and he expects to get
away with more than 4,000. Good business at the end for him. But undecent and dishonest!
If Afilias is serious, they have to take away all the domains of "Plankenstein"
(no challenge even needed) without a compensation, since he admits publicly the fraud
and seems even proud of it. If they don't act (and I cannot imagine them challenging
each of those hundreds of domains individually...) - then it will be the proof that
crime pays... Sad, sad, sad...
Well, I am curious to see what will happen
next...
(If you don't have the link to the Tirol online article, let me know,
and I will send it to you - but I won't have access to my e-mail for the next 24
hours, so be patient.)"
END OF e-MAIL
Tiscover is a well-known Austrian company
with a reputation they need to defend. Are the facts above true? If they are not,
will Mr Ebner or an associate please inform us. If they are true, will Tiscover now
protect its reputation by renouncing all the names and demanding that Afilias delete
them all.
THIS IS MASSIVE FRAUD !!!!!!!!!