Manu
08-15-2001, 12:14 PM
NeuLevel Inc., the exclusive operator of the new “dot-biz” Internet domain, has filed a federal lawsuit against online retail giant Amazon [NASDAQ:AMZN] in a dispute over the way the Sterling company is selling the domain names.
NeuLevel is not seeking monetary damages but rather wants a judge to rule that the company’s practices are not illegal.
At the heart of the dispute is how to assign ownership of dot-biz domains, which would direct Web surfers to sites that ended in ".biz." The dot-biz suffix - scheduled to launch Oct. 1 - and ".info" will become the first new top-level domains created since the advent of ".com," ".net" and ".org" more than a decade ago.
Jeffrey J. Neuman, NeuLevel’s director of policy and intellectual property, said Tuesday that the company filed its suit last Thursday in response to complaints from Seattle-based Amazon.com about NeuLevel's system on assigning domains. Neuman claimed that Amazon.com, which sent a letter to NeuLevel two weeks ago, had threatened to take legal action against the company.
"Amazon.com gave us no alternative," he said. "They really gave us no alternative than to seek declarative relief."
But Amazon.com spokeswoman Patty Smith had a different view. She said she did not believe Amazon threatened to sue NeuLevel. But, she said, Amazon.com strenuously disagrees NeuLevel’s method of resolving multiple claims for the same Internet dot-biz address.
"We feel their practice is in violation of state and federal consumer protection laws," Smith said. "They don't respect anybody's trademark."
In its suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria, NeuLevel asks a federal judge to rule that its method for selling the dot-biz domains does not violate federal trademark statutes and is not subject to state or federal lottery laws, Neuman said.
NeuLevel is taking applications for specific dot-biz domains, such as "amazon.biz," at $2 per request. For the first initial months of the new domain's operation—when there is expected to be flood of applications—the winner of each online address will be chosen randomly.
NeuLevel says its system is the best way to avoid being overwhelmed and to assign domains fairly. The $2 fee helps keep entrants from applying innumerable times, and it reimburses NeuLevel with the costs of the system, Neuman said. Random selection also means every application has an "equal opportunity" to win, he said.
But critics such as Amazon.com claim the system amounts to an illegal lottery and does not respect corporate trademark rights. The system does not reward applicants on a first-come, first-serve basis, and wealthier bidders will be able to outnumber others with more applications, Smith said.
Smith said that as of Tuesday morning Amazon.com had not yet formally been notified of NeuLevel's legal action. "It's premature to say what our next step will be," she said Tuesday evening.
Neuman said NeuLevel plans to go ahead with its assignment system by the October deadline. "We will defend our system 100 percent." www.technews.com (http://www.technews.com)
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Manu Narayan
NeuLevel is not seeking monetary damages but rather wants a judge to rule that the company’s practices are not illegal.
At the heart of the dispute is how to assign ownership of dot-biz domains, which would direct Web surfers to sites that ended in ".biz." The dot-biz suffix - scheduled to launch Oct. 1 - and ".info" will become the first new top-level domains created since the advent of ".com," ".net" and ".org" more than a decade ago.
Jeffrey J. Neuman, NeuLevel’s director of policy and intellectual property, said Tuesday that the company filed its suit last Thursday in response to complaints from Seattle-based Amazon.com about NeuLevel's system on assigning domains. Neuman claimed that Amazon.com, which sent a letter to NeuLevel two weeks ago, had threatened to take legal action against the company.
"Amazon.com gave us no alternative," he said. "They really gave us no alternative than to seek declarative relief."
But Amazon.com spokeswoman Patty Smith had a different view. She said she did not believe Amazon threatened to sue NeuLevel. But, she said, Amazon.com strenuously disagrees NeuLevel’s method of resolving multiple claims for the same Internet dot-biz address.
"We feel their practice is in violation of state and federal consumer protection laws," Smith said. "They don't respect anybody's trademark."
In its suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria, NeuLevel asks a federal judge to rule that its method for selling the dot-biz domains does not violate federal trademark statutes and is not subject to state or federal lottery laws, Neuman said.
NeuLevel is taking applications for specific dot-biz domains, such as "amazon.biz," at $2 per request. For the first initial months of the new domain's operation—when there is expected to be flood of applications—the winner of each online address will be chosen randomly.
NeuLevel says its system is the best way to avoid being overwhelmed and to assign domains fairly. The $2 fee helps keep entrants from applying innumerable times, and it reimburses NeuLevel with the costs of the system, Neuman said. Random selection also means every application has an "equal opportunity" to win, he said.
But critics such as Amazon.com claim the system amounts to an illegal lottery and does not respect corporate trademark rights. The system does not reward applicants on a first-come, first-serve basis, and wealthier bidders will be able to outnumber others with more applications, Smith said.
Smith said that as of Tuesday morning Amazon.com had not yet formally been notified of NeuLevel's legal action. "It's premature to say what our next step will be," she said Tuesday evening.
Neuman said NeuLevel plans to go ahead with its assignment system by the October deadline. "We will defend our system 100 percent." www.technews.com (http://www.technews.com)
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Manu Narayan