Chris Brauer Media Project [BLOG]

For background on the comical domain name registration policies in Canada see this earlier post. But what else would you expect from a board of directors made up of Internet activists who ignore the plight of Canadian businesses through policies that often serve to support spam and trademark infringement.

Let me give you an example. CIRA offers a domain name dispute resolution process to resolve, well, disputes over .ca domain names. So let's take a scenario. You own a business and have trademarked the name "Alliance Construction" in Canada. I register the domain name allianceconstruction.ca with a CIRA certified domain name provider and when you contact me, I offer to sell you the domain name for $500. You now have two choices. Pay me the $500 and I will transfer the domain name or undergo the domain name dispute resolution process and recover rightful ownership of trademarked material. Seems like the process is the way to go? Not unless you are interested in paying the $4300 tariff you (the complainant) must pay to undertake the process. And if you win you have no recourse to recover that tariff fee. So now you are faced with a choice of paying me $500 and obtaining ownership of the domain name or paying $4300 to undertake the process where you can only hope for the same outcome. And what is my risk? $0. Nada. Nothing. Zip. Zero. Like I said. CIRA sucks!

Labels: canada, internet, politics