U.S. Cybersquatting Law Goes Global

typecast writes: "Better bone up on Bulgarian trademark law before you register your next domain name. A U.S. federal court has ruled that laws protecting trademarks in foreign countries apply under the American Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) of 1999. (Note to the U.S. registrants of Quartz.com: watch out!)"

Comments

Exactly, If foreign companys want an address

[Anonymous Coward]

that is why they have their own fucking country codes. Le Monde doesnt have any right to lemonde.com because they can get lemonde.fr. This whole internet thing is a crock of shit. Fucking morons. The whole world is made up of dipshits. Sadly i'm a part of this world (minus the dipshit part although others could argue).

Chilling Effects....

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Unrelated, but worth mentioning:

On February 25, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and four law school clinics announced the launch of a website and project that has been established to educate Internet users about their rights online. The Chilling Effects Clearinghouse provides detailed information about the legal rights of Internet users regarding "cease-and-desist" letters (letters sent from entities claiming violation of copyright or trademark and other grievances and threatening legal action if the violating party does not cease and desist). The project currently provides basic legal information on issues like copyright and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, trademark and domain names, anonymous speech, and defamation.

The Chilling Effects website includes a forum for Internet users to post their cease-and-desist letters to an online clearinghouse. Students at the participating law clinics will review the letters and annotate them with links to explain applicable legal rules. The four Internet law clinics currently involved are Harvard, Stanford, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of San Francisco, and the project is expected to grow to include additional law schools.

Posted letters will remain online in a searchable database that interested parties can consult to find information that relates to their particular situation. "The Internet makes it easier for individuals to speak to a wide audience, but it also makes it easier for other people and corporations to silence that speech," said Wendy Seltzer, Fellow at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, who created the project and website. "Chilling Effects aims to level the field by helping online speakers to understand their rights in the face of legal threats."

.com isn't reserved to US company

[aepervius]

.US is reserved for the U.S:. .com is for world wide generic purpose commercial (or should be), or trade mark, or protected name (cultural name for example?). In no way it is reserved for U.S. resident or firms.