Domain Name Disputes

For those interested, InternetNZ is consulting on establishing a dispute resolution process for .nz domains.

The usual benefits of such a system is to allow persons whose intellectual property, such as trademarks, is being infringed or cybersquatted to quickly get the issue resolved, rather than a lengthy court battle.

The flipside can be that some people can try and use a system to bully someone else out of a name which is being legitimately used. The most infamous case was the NZ Government being found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking for trying to claim newzealand.com. They eventually paid almost a million dollars for it (which was incredibly stupid also).