Name: Matthew Wallace Organization: Jewelryzone, Inc Position: CTO It is important to recognize the Internet and domain registration schema is larger than any individual body of intellectual property law. Cybersquatting should be dealt with, but it is also important to balance this against the rights of individuals, with an eye towards this important fact: Most widely recognized names, phrases, and trademarks do not necessarily have a right to a domain name. In other words, if a layperson registered juliaroberts.com (to name a controversy), because it was their name, or to create a site as a fan of a public figure, those are ligitimate uses. Julia Roberts the well-known actress should not be entitled to that domain simply because she is the best known person with that name, which is shared by thousands of people. In cases of non-ambiguity, say, people registering known trademarks, such as if someone squatted on prozac.com, a decision might be clear cut, but in essence, we perceive the current thrust as being bent towards the interests of corporations who might wish to seize domain names which were registered in good faith. We believe it is necessary that the burdon of proof of a bad faith registration lie on the PLAINTIFF, not on the owner and defendant.
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