One's Internet site is like a physical storefront. There is no difference in what people are doing in the digital age with domain name speculation than people have been doing for years in physical real estate speculation. I can appreciate protecting trademarks, copyrights, etc. BUT only if they are being used in unlicensed trade functions, not just as digital real estate speculation. An example to support my opinion: If I think that Microsoft is going to build a facility in my town, I would be able to buy property where I speculate they will possibly build. This has been going on for years and is a common and accepted practice. In the cyberworld of the Internet, a web presence is the digital equivelant of real estate. Why should I be prevented from buying (registering) the "microsoft.com" domain space in the hope that I could sell that space at a profit to Microsoft? I can understand regulations prohibiting unauthorized trademark\copyright use if I were to use "my" domain - microsoft.com to sell my own company's products. That is trademark infringement and should be illegal. However, just registering a domain, ie; microsoft.com, does not constitute trademark infringement!! It only prohibits people from entrepreneurship. If your organization is promoting a ban on so-called "cybersquatting", then it needs to equally promote a ban on real estae speculating as well. See how that goes over in the business world. Signed, Robert H. Feiring III United States
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