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US House of Reps. Bans "Cybersquatting"

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the smash-crash-bushwhacked-tie-another-to-the-rack dept.

sredding writes "The House has voted to ban "cybersquatting", the pre-empting of Internet domain names with the aim of selling those names to companies or people with trademark associations to them. " Sounds nice right? Well, there maybe some downsides to the bill. The Clinton Administration, however, opposes the bill, saying courts are the best place to settle disputes.

1 of 143 comments (clear)

  1. 2 suggestions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5

    1. Eliminate the 90 day grace period for payment. A lot of squatters are using scripts to re-register every 90 days to keep names without ever paying. Make it so it must be payable (by CC) up front at time of registration.

    2. Create a FLOOD of easily available 3 letter extensions (.biz, .inc, .sex, .usa, .etc, and at least 20 to 40 more) many of which are pretty catchy sounding and would water-down the value of .com making it less attractive to snap up in the first place. To grab exclusivity on a domain name would mean having to grab ALL the extensions which could be difficult and expensive. (especially if you have to pay up front like suggestion #1)