What is Verify4Lookalike Service?
How is "Look Alike" Defined?
Who is the Target Audience
for the Service?
How Is it beneficial to the
Netizens?
Does VLAS provide Legal Immunity?
Does VLAS support Cyber Squatting?
Can I use this
service to a name yet to be Registered?
Does VLAS offer Arbitration
Service?
Is there a Cost for the Service?
How Can you Associate with
this Service?
What is Verify4Lookalike Service?
Verify4lookalike is a service to the Netizen community to assist
in the resolution of common Domain Name Disputes, by providing an easy
means for Netizens to ask a site "Who are You Not?". For example, if a
Netizen comes across a site www.clinton.com, there may be a possibility
of thinking that the site belongs to the Ex-president of US because he
is a celebrity owner of the name.
But if the site actually belongs to some other Clinton, how do
we reconcile the situation?. Do we say that this Clinton has no right to
own the Domain name?. Unfortunately, we are presently adopting this
stance which is grossly unfair to the Clinton who registered the domain
first and also has a claim on the name because his parents have given him
that name.
Verify4lookalike service provides access to Netizens visiting the www.clinton.com
site to a data base maintained by a third party to check if the site being
visited is actually a "Look Alike". This is done by displaying a list of
all "Look alike sites" at the click of a button. For example, such list
may contain www.billclinton.com, www.exuspresident.com, www.clinton.com.uk,
www.clinton.biz, www.clinton.museum etc.
The Netizen therefore is able to resolve his confusion instantly and
continue his surfing.
How is "Look Alike" Defined?
"Look Alike" sites are presently identified on four parameters
and in future other parameters are intended to be added. The four parameters
are
1. Similarity of domain names.(eg: clinton.com and clinton.biz)
2.Similarity of the subject domain name to any registered trademark.
(jaguarcenter.com to Ford's trademark)
3.A site which used a registered trademark or its clone in the meta
tag.
4.A site which has registered a registered trademark owned by some
body else in a major search engine for display of advertisements for key
word based search.
Who is the Target Audience
for the Service?
The service is offered to an owner of a Domain Name on request.
The service is used by the Netizens while surfing.
How Is it beneficial
to the Netizens?
VLAS service is the simplest tool for a Netizen to resolve "Confusingly
similar Domain Names".
Does VLAS provide Legal Immunity?
The VLAS service is only aimed at providing a tool for resolving
"Consumer Confusion". If the reason for such confusion arises only due
to the similarity of name on account of any of the above parameters, it
provides a means to prove "Lack of bad faith".
If the dispute is centered around confusion arising out of similar "Look
and Feel" of a site or "Similar Service" etc, the service may not be able
to assist in the resolution of the conflict.
However, the service is presently aimed at providing a means for "Peaceful
Coexistence" if different Domain name owners so chose. There is at present
no legal validity assigned to the service. Even after a defendant has become
a member of this service, nothing prevents a party to take a dispute to
a Court or to WIPO to establish its claim on a domain name by virtue of
"Confusing Similarity".
Does VLAS support Cyber
Squatting?
No. Cyber Squatting refers to registration of domain names
in "Bad Faith". VLAS aims to provide a protection for genuine domain name
owners who have a conflict arising out of reasons such as existence of
two valid trademarks in different categories or countries or two persons
with similar names etc.
If the service is being used by any Cyber Squatter, law can take its
own course and evict him not withstanding his providing the "Lookalike
list".
Can I use this
service to a name yet to be Registered?
This service is meant for active web site owners only. Those
who are registering a name now for the purpose of activating the site immediately
can register for the service. But the service will be active only when the
site becomes operational.
Does VLAS offer Arbitration
Service?
VLAS is intended to be an integrated service including the
"Arbitration option". This part of the service is getting ready.
Is there a Cost for the Service?
The service is presently being offered on a
selective basis on cost to be determined on a case to case basis. The look alike sites
will be updated four times in a year. (Contact
naavi@naavi.org for details ).
How Can you associate
with this Service?
Domain Name Owners: You can become members of this service
and start strengthening the community. We know that at the present stage
the service will have some deficiencies and will be far from perfect. We
would still appreciate the members for their support to the cause of "Learning
to Co-exist" in Cyber space.
Domain Name Registrars: Whether you are new.net or a country
code registrant or one of the many ICANN accredited registrants, every
new registration made through you will be a potential conflicting name
with the existing 25 million .com domain names already registered. The
new registration mechanisms can all be considered one day as
"Trade Mark Infringement Tools" just as Napster was held to be a "Copyright
Violation Tool".
All registrants therefore has a responsibility to the community to advise
their clients that the registrations made through them can be snatched
away by the holders of similar looking domain names already in use.
They can therefore collaborate with VLAS to offer the VLAS registrations
to all their registrants at the time of registration of the domain names.
Cyber Rights Organisations: VLAS is a new concept. Its very availability
can redefine the existing concepts of what constitutes "Bad Faith" in Domain
name disputes. The service is aimed at supporting Common Netizens from
unreasonable harassment from big Trade Mark owners. Hence Cyber Rights
Organisations should come forward to assist VLAS in gaining community acceptance
quickly. They are requested to collaborate with VLAS in promoting the concept
in Regulatory, Legal and Judicial circles.
Netizens: Any Netizen who agrees that the service has a value
to common man on the Net can support the service by using it and encouraging
its use. Netizens who are also associated with the legal administration
of Domain Name rights can assist with VLAS directly or indirectly by endorsing
the service.
Contact Naavi for Details
