[registrars] .INFO Secondary Market Domain buyers BEWARE

["Bhavin Turakhia" <bhavin.t@directi.com>]

A large number of Defrauders around the world have registered Sunrise domain
names with fraudulent trademark information in the hope of making a quick
buck. All of these speculators intend to make fast money by offloading these
domain names to strategic buyers. These speculators will probably succeed,
however few are aware of the implications this could have on those strategic
buyers.

A Strategic buyer is most likely to buy these domains for the purpose of
setting up a portal or website for themselves. The purchase would result in
transfer of the name from the current fraudulent registrant to the newer
registrant. The name would in effect remain a sunrise name and hence would
continue to carry the same trademark information. Assuming the strategic
buyer then builds his website and invests considerable sums of money to
promote his brand name. Any competitor of this buyer can then at anytime
lodge a challenge process against that name for a sum of $295 and have that
domain name deleted since it would not compy with the sunrise regulations.
This could result in devastating effects on the buyer, and may ruin his
entire business.

It is essential that buyers of .info domains keep the following in mind

1) If the domain name is a Sunrise Registered Domain then the trademark
information should be genuine

2) Its not just necessary that the trademark information be genuine. It is
also essential that the trademark be bought over by the buyer of the domain
name.

All those speculators who have registered fraudulent sunrise names may just
get away with selling these names for a fortune. It is the buyers who will
pay for it dearly if they do not understand the Sunrise regulatins clearly.
(http://www.directi.com)