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"Domain Name Spying"-The Latest Technique In Domain Name Sabotage

by robertmasudesq

If you are a new business owner, you likely have spent a good
deal of time trying to determine what domain name will be best
for your operations.  To this end, you may have taken the steps
necessary to determine the availability of a particular name.  In
fact, finding that it is available may have made you very
pleased.  Not registering the name upon your first visit, you
return a couple of days later to find that someone else has
registered the name you wanted in the interim.

Of course, this all could have been a coincidence.  Nonetheless,
in this day and age, a more likely possibility may be that
another entity actually tracked your search for a particular
domain name and intentionally registered that name itself.  Those
entities that are now engaging in this insidious practice are
said to be domain name spying.  In fact, there now appear to be
operations that solely engage in this practice.

The reality is that there is nothing new about operators
interfering with a bona fide business's attempts to register a
domain name.  Cybersquatting involves registering a name
confusingly similar to a trademark and then offering to sell that
name to the trademark's actual owner for a greatly inflated
price.  There are other practices that interfere with legitimate
attempts to register domain names, including tasting and kiting.

Domain name tasting is a process that takes advantage of the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
policy that allows a five day grace period in which a domain name
can be returned.  A taster registers numerous names in order to
generate advertising income from short term ownership to
determine which names might be most profitable over the long
haul.  If the registrant finds that certain names don't meet his
or her goals, it is simply returned.

Domain kiting actually takes the tasting concept a step further.
 Through kiting the ICANN grace period is abused.  As with
tasting, the registrant will return a name at the end of the
ICANN five day grace period.  The difference between kiting and
tasting is that when the registrant returns the domain name, the
registrant will then quickly reacquire the same name all over
again.  Essentially, a registrant engaging in kiting will retain
ownership of the name in question over an extended period of time
and will never pay for that ownership.

By understanding tasting and kiting, a reader can appreciate how
domain name spying is an outgrowth of these practices.  The
difference rests in the fact that spying is intended to target
those names that someone else or another business enterprise has
a specific interest in owning.  At this juncture, it is not
specifically known how a domain name spy gathers information
relating to another business checking on the availability of a
name.

Some victims of domain name spies may have at least some
recourse through trademark and cybersquatting laws.  However, if
a domain name spy does not violate these laws, a business
actually may have no remedy at this juncture.

If you find that you have been victimized while checking the
availability of a name, you probably will end up with two
choices:

1. select another domain name
2. pay the spy a premium for the name you actually want

The best way to avoid becoming a victim of domain name spying is
to purchase immediately any name that you may have an interest
in.  Remember, if you elect not to use a certain name, you have
five days to return that domain name with no charge to you.

Robert Masud, Esq. is the principal of Masud & Company LLC, a <a
href="http://www.masudco.com">law firm for the world of business,
finance and the internet</a>.Find out how our lawyers can help
you at <a
href="http://www.masudco.com">http://www.masudco.com</a>.

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