The Path
to End Cybersquatting
Alex
Tajirian
July 19, 2010
Dialogue is the only way to end cybersquatting.
Distrust between brand owners and domain owners (with an assist
from some cockeyed business incentives) has turned a problem into
a very expensive vicious cycle. Now that ICANN
is about to launch new top-level domains (TLDs),
negotiations must start immediately or both sides will pile up further
loses.
Here’s how the problem plays out now. Brand owners’
threatening tactics put domain owners’ backs up, and the domain
owners seek revenge by registering even more domain names that contain
brand names (some of them, arguably, not infringements). Brand owners,
furious at the growing volume of domain names containing brand names,
resort to measures that destroy shareholder value, including escalating
threats and acquiring overvalued domain names. The approach, stemming
from a lack of trust of the domain name community, is supported
by biased measures of anti-squatting success. Despite the viability
of, say, a carrot-and-stick
solution (that needs to be tweaked and adjusted),
current corporate success measures are based on the number of winning
UDRPs and acquisitions, without regard to the economic effect of
such tactics, which fuel the vicious cybersquatting circle and add
to shareholder-value
destruction. There needs to be a new mindset
and/or a mandate from management to incorporate value in the reaction
calculus. However, unfortunately, the reality of any change in the
current modus operandi is that managers cannot just say no
to the present strategy and performance measures, especially when
their mindset goes deeper than purely monetary considerations.
We need to attack the problem, not the people
and organizations. Accuse, insult, or snub the other side, and they
stay the other side. The current adversarial strategy and tactics
by both parties—the point scoring and vindictiveness of the brand
owners’ Coalition Against Domain
Name Abuse (CADNA) and the domain owners’
Internet Commerce Association (ICA)—add
up to a vicious cycle that’s sucking our energy and resources. The
way out is through face-to-face negotiations. Both sides must come
to the table with the intention of negotiating a solution, not scoring
points. To put it simply, the first step is for brand owners and
domain owners to want to understand each other.
The negotiating group must include all stakeholders.
The new approach can be jumpstarted through a panel discussion at
one of the upcoming domain name conferences.
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