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Queen Loses Out In newzealand.com Dispute

Posted by timothy on from the seems-ok-to-me dept.

pidge-nz writes "Hmmmm. Does a country own the rights to its name? Looks like the WIPO thinks not. Here's the New Zealand Herald short article on the decision. My Personal opinion is that they all are a bunch of plonkers - all three partcipants. NZ Govt for not bothering to register the name earlier, Virtual Countries for not bothering to ask to use/"license" the name, and the WIPO for setting a stupid precedent."

5 of 29 comments (clear)

  1. agree with the ruling by smoondog · · Score: 3, Insightful

    New Zealand should have access to newzealand.gov, but newzealand.com is open to anyone. fp?

    -Sean

    1. Re:agree with the ruling by jon787 · · Score: 4, Informative

      .gov is for US government institutions

      Check out RFC 1591

      United States Only Generic Domains:

      GOV - This domain was originally intended for any kind of government office or agency. More recently a decision was taken to register only agencies of the US Federal government in this domain. State and local agencies are registered in the country domains (see US Domain, below).

      --
      X(7): A program for managing terminal windows. See also screen(1).
  2. First Come First Serve by oyenstikker · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Oh, i get it. So its supposed to be first come first serve when the little guy is first, but if the Evil Corporation is first, then it should go to the "rightful owner"? Make up your mind /.

    --
    The masses are the crack whores of religion.
  3. Not stupid by gmhowell · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If New Zealand wants a domain, it can be newzealand.org or newzealand.net or newzealand.nz Unless the government of new zealand is a for profit entity. It was registered in 1996. The article doesn't mention, but did the gov't attempt to purchase it from the current owner?

    Isn't this the result 'we' wanted from the nissan.com case? newzealand.com was there first, has disclaimers, and isn't competing with the more well known New Zealand (IOW, newzealand.com isn't trying to become the government).

    --
    Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
  4. TLD's by MacAndrew · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's an interesting problem -- sure New Zealand has a claim to .gov, but should they also get .com? Why not every TLD? (.net,.com,.org,.biz.....) Well, no. I've noticed that a lot of sites that are appropriately registered as .org or .gov also buy the .com variation so that default searches will lead to them, also. What about variations like NZ.com? Kiwi.com?

    This wasn't a trademark ruling, which would be another obstacle to inappropriate use of an entity's name.

    WIPO's focus on good faith was appropriate -- the point is to root out squatters -- and the outcome seems plausible. As least the winner is from a democracy! I'm sure the Queen was only a technical party and NZ is a democracy, perhaps more so than the States. The U.S. is unfamiliar with titles of nobility ... except maybe musicians like Queen Latifah or Prince, the artist formerly known as glyph. I won't discuss Madonna. :)