Sotiris writes:
>The UDRP must be re-examined.< Agreed but...
>The examples
of BUSINESS.COM, ALTAVISTA.COM, BEAUTY.CC and many others besides must be pointed
out and respected.<
Respected for what?
BUSINESS.COM
Do you think $7.5 mill
in cash changed hands? How much was stock? What is that stock worth today? And do
you think this burn rate will obtain in future just for a name, even if it is business.web?
It's like the Tucker automobile, do you think he'd have been more successful if he'd
bought the name Fnord Motor Company?
ALTAVISTA.COM
The buyer and seller were
already financially joined at the hip. It was an accounting transfer disguised as
news.
BEAUTY.CC
Ditto to altavista. And have you seen their site lately? Worth
every penny!
>Granted, it was a good run for WIPO while it lasted... time to put
the collar on though.<
Except that they are now working on version 2 as you can
see, and it will have less bugs for those who gain most from it. Did you not notice
AT & T's mention of a modified UDRP? Unfortunately, the domain reseller market is
just playing into their hands. Other than the registrars do you see anyone making
any money?
Take all the money spent on domain speculation, take all the money
made from domain speculation, and the net loss is probably in the red overall by
several orders of magnitude beyond what was supposedly paid for the above names (and
other such hyped deals). No matter which, if any, new names ICANN creates, the speculation
industry will never be in the black. Small biz turns names into commodities, big
biz comes and eats their lunch. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss...