Senator Betty Little, R-Queensbury, is sponsoring a law that will make it illegal to register a domain name that is similar to or the same as another living person or business. Any one living in New York will be subject to this law which is aimed at domainers that have purchased a domain with the intent to sell it to a business or person. One of the biggest questions in my mind is yet to be answered, and that is “how far will this law reach?”
How many permutations away from a business will this law reach?
Is Mike.com a typo of Nike.com? - It may be in New York!
“An Internet presence is a must for almost all businesses today,” Little said in a prepared statement issued Tuesday. “An essential part of attracting and keeping customers is having a web address that is easy to remember and helps point people, searching the web, in the direction of your business.”
Governor Eliot Spitzer approved this law on August 1st and it will go into action in 120 days. The law apparently wont punish accidental registration of a name that is confusingly similar, however those that are found in violation will be subject to upto $1,000 each day for the violation.
New York Based Registrars Pay Attention!
The bottom of the bill states the following:
“IN A CIVIL ACTION COMMENCED UNDER THIS SECTION, A DOMAIN NAME SHALL BE DEEMED TO HAVE ITS SITUS WITHIN THE STATE IF THE DOMAIN NAME REGISTRAR, REGISTRY, OR OTHER DOMAIN NAME AUTHORITY THAT REGISTERED OR ASSIGNED THE DOMAIN NAME IS LOCATED WITHIN THE STATE.”
- This is going to be a big headache for any registrars that are based in New York.
* Update * Quite a Few People Have Written About This Story.
* Update 2 * New York Bill S03814 & Summary & Elliot Spitzer’s WIPO to get EliotSpitzer.org
August 8th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
Time to set up shop elsewhere.