[registrars] Cybersquatter CRIMINAL legislation

["Michael D. Palage" <mpalage@ipwarehouse.com>]

Excerpt from NY Times article Bill Would Make Cybersquatting a Crime, June
22, 1999 by JERI CLAUSING.

The campaign to crack down on cybersquatters has moved to Capitol Hill,
where Senator Spencer Abraham, a Michigan Republican, has introduced a bill
that would make the practice a crime.

The proposal introduced Friday would make it illegal to register someone
else's trademark, and then misuse it to deceive consumers or try to resell
the domain name for a profit.

The first conviction would be a misdemeanor; a second conviction could turn
into a felony. The proposal by Abraham would also give companies the ability
to recover damages of up to $300,000 for each trademark violation.


*** Check out the Limitation on Liability Section:

SECTION 5: LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

An Internet service provider (ISP) or domain name registrar shall not be
liable for monetary damages to any person if it
removes an infringing identifier from domain name server (DNS) service or
from registration, or transfers it to the trademark
owner: (1) upon written notice from the trademark owner and (2) in
compliance with either a court order or the reasonable
implementation of a policy prohibiting the unauthorized registration or use
of another's registered trademark.

This limitation shall apply without regard to whether the domain name or
other identifier is ultimately determined to be infringing or dilutive.

COMMENT: I have problems with a statute that provides for criminal sanctions
worded in terms of "reasonable implementation." Will the WIPO working groups
efforts be deemed a "reasonable implementation" ?????

This makes the WIPO recommendations in Berlin seem trivial.