Kevin Murphy, editor of Domain Incite, a popular news blog about the domain name business, policy, politics and technology, writes about the registration of the first new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), claiming that cybersquatting is as inevitable in new gTLDs as it was in previous domains. After studying Whois records of the first new, he came across plenty of newly registered domains that will soon become the targets of complaints and litigation under the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP).
Sifting through select Whois records of domains that were registered in Donuts’ first seven gTLDs over the last few days, and without leaving the A’s, Murphy found such domains as adidas.clothing, americanapparel.clothing and americanexpress.guru. Delving a little deeper into .clothing, he saw the likes of kanyewest.clothing, ralphlauren.clothing, kardashiankollection.clothing, lauraashley.clothing, michaeljordan.clothing and more.
Writing that while there could be legitimate uses of the names he mentioned, which only proper authorities can determine, Murphy adds that he has found more new domains that have been registered behind Whois privacy services, where it’s not possible to tell whether the domain belongs to the brand or not.
Murphy also established that one Los Angeles clothing store appears to have registered several .clothing domains matching brands it does not own, and that domains such as ibm.guru and ibm.ventures use Whois privacy, yet resolve to the IBM web site.
Murphy’s post has provoked an immediate response. According to the Donuts Internet domain name registry, IBM has shown interest in the ibm.guru and ibm.ventures domains and has dissociated itself from their registration. If IBM files a complaint, both domains can be suspended within the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS).
