[ga] .biz registry stands by lottery

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com>]

All assembly members,

WASHINGTON--The Virginia company overseeing the launch of new .biz
Internet addresses has sued to seek protection from charges that its
preregistration system for coveted new domain names amounts to an
illegal lottery.

NeuLevel, which plans to make Internet addresses such as www.show.biz
operational by Oct. 1, filed a motion Thursday in an Alexandria, Va.,
federal court asking the court to declare that the company does not
run afoul of federal trademark laws or state laws that ban many kinds
of lotteries.

The Sterling, Va.-based company filed the complaint against Internet
retailer Amazon.com, which, according to NeuLevel, has threatened to
sue if NeuLevel does not change its registration methods.
A NeuLevel representative declined to comment.

A spokeswoman for Amazon.com confirmed Monday that a letter had been
sent to NeuLevel, but she declined to provide a copy or comment on
the suit that the company had not yet seen.

"We feel it is an illegal lottery scheme that's in violation of
state, federal, consumer-protection and trademark laws," said
spokeswoman Patty Smith. "We outlined those concerns to them in a
letter, and rather than responding to the letter they chose to file
suit."

Potholes on domain path
NeuLevel was among seven companies selected last November by the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to
introduce a handful of new domains including .info and .name, as
established domains such as .com become increasingly crowded.

The road since has been a bumpy one.

ICANN came under fire from Internet observers and members of
Congress, who charge the quasi-independent body chose the seven new
domains in an arbitrary and undemocratic fashion.

Afilias, a consortium of 18 Internet domain companies charged with
managing the .info domain, is considering whether to alter its
registration process after people complained last week that it
encourages cybersquatting.

In addition to Amazon's letter, NeuLevel also faces a class-action
suit filed on behalf of applicants in Los Angeles, and at least one
domain-name reseller has sought a congressional investigation.

At issue is the process by which .biz names are handed out. To
resolve potential conflicts between companies seeking to control the
same Web address, NeuLevel has established a preregistration period
in which applicants pay a small fee to reserve the rights to a name.

NeuLevel will randomly award contested names at the end of the
preregistration period on Sept. 17. Trademark holders can file a
notice to discourage potential cybersquatters from laying claim to
domain names such as www.cocacola.biz.

NeuLevel contends that this process is the fairest way possible to
hand out desirable addresses such as www.money.biz.

But critics charge that the process encourages applicants to buy as
many applications as they can afford, at an average cost of $5 each,
to improve their chances of winning.

By selling chances to win a name rather than rights to the name
itself, NeuLevel is operating an illegal lottery, they charge.

According to the complaint, lawyers for Amazon sent a letter to
NeuLevel on July 30 threatening to sue unless NeuLevel changed its
registration plan to one that would forbid multiple applications,
allow trademark owners to register first, and refund application fees
to those who registered multiple times.

"NeuLevel is deriving enhanced revenues by selling chances to
register or to challenge registration of domain names that
incorporate famous trademarks such as Amazon.com," the complaint
quotes Amazon's letter as saying.

But other companies, such as Amazon Imaging, might reasonably stake a
claim to the address www.amazon.biz, the complaint says: "Because
amazon.com and amazon.biz exist in different top-level domains, they
resolve to different and unique Internet addresses and thus can
function and coexist without collision," the complaint says.

Regards,

--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup - (Over 118k members strong!)
CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng/SR. Java/CORBA Development Eng.
Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
Contact Number:  972-447-1800 x1894 or 214-244-4827
Address: 5 East Kirkwood Blvd. Grapevine Texas 75208
--
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