CADNA (The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse) is a non-profit group dedicated to eliminating domain name abuses across the internet. CADNA are working to protect the trademark rights and interests of corporations and individuals. Specifically, they aim to punish cybersquatting (the registration and use of a domain name with bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to another party). 

Challenging and eliminating cybersquatting (trademark infringement) is a worthy goal and one that is supported by legitimate domainers. Honest domain investors understand the damage created by cybersquatting, and they avoid dealing in domain names that present clear infringement issues. Quite unfortunately, the general public have been misinformed as to what constitutes true cybersquatting, and wrongly assume it applies to registering domain names for resale, development, or other monetization techniques. Of course, these activities constitute a well-established, legal, and advisable business model that was a natural outgrowth of the successful domain name industry.

Internet domain names are virtual real estate. And like real estate, a developer/owner may choose to pursue any number of options for utilizing an internet property. As long as the domain name in question is not infringing on an existing trademark, then “cybersquatting” doesn’t enter the picture.

The ICA (Internet Commerce Association) is an organization that came into existence to help represent the domain name industry fairly, and to help protect the rights of domain name registrants and domain developers. The concern for legitimate domainers is that CADNA, or similar entities, will over-reach their purview and catalyze government action that limits or damages the rights of legitimate domain registrants. This cannot be allowed to happen as it would be as ethically unacceptable as cybersquatting. An equally damaging wrong commited in the opposite direction.

It is extremely unfortunate that blatant cybersquatters tried to exploit and steal the profits of companies. This behavior was so egregious, widespread, and publicly condemned that the cloud of contempt extended well beyond the cybersquatters to tarnish even honest domain developers and entrepreneurs.

Today, domaining is gaining respect and interest from the larger business community. There is much to overcome since so much misinformation and misguided contempt were disseminated by the general media (who were often too complacent to collect and report factual information). The media love to castigate, and cybersquatters fueled the fire with gasoline.

Domainers are working to maintain clean portfolios and to conduct honest, ethical business. One doesn’t have to steal and cheat to be successful in the domain investment community. But, as in any and every business sector, you always have some rotten eggs.  Key Point: Cybersquatting … is not domaining.

I encourage general readers, and in particular domainers, to speak out against cybersquatting, and to discourage those new in our industry from registering a known company’s domain name. Thankfully, the division between legitimate domaining vs. cybersquatting is becoming more clear everyday. It’s a shame the battle was so long and such an uphill climb. It’s not over. But we’re nearing the top … where we belong.

Cybersquatting, Internet Domains CADNA, Cybersquatting, ICA

Think big, think widespread, and imagine powerful wireless internet signals extending far beyond earth’s orbit. Put another way, the internet really is the future of media, education, science, business, entertainment, and the interconnectedness of all people and cultures. If there were ever a bridge spanning the proverbial great divide, then the internet is it.

Sound a little like hype? Depends on your perspective, or lack of one. Newspaper, radio, television, global commerce, healthcare, university instruction, on and on, are being digitized and delivered to the world via a variety of high-technology devices. So advanced are these devices that they make the internet simple, and more readily accessible with every passing day to billions around the world. From a pure business perspective, this equals multiple revenue streams. From a human evolutionary standpoint, it’s a continuing advancement with no end in sight.

As you can tell, I’m an optimist. But also, proudly … a realist. If one evaluates what the internet has achieved thus far, that in itself is incredible. The world wide web has dramatically changed global business on an unprecedented scale. The wheel, electricity, and maybe the auto are its only peers. The exciting part, for me, is that the juice hasn’t even been squeezed yet from the fruit. We have witnessed thus far only a trickle, or glimpse, of greater things to come. Many have commented that the internet is in its infancy. True and correct in the extreme.

So what about domain names?

They’re about one thing only … language, and the power of a word. The internet has been constructed, for all of the correct reasons, around the simplest and most direct form of communication that we know. The …

word: a unit of language, consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their written representation, that functions as a principal carrier of meaning.

Beautiful in its simplicity, the domain name is the concise unit of language which has no parallel (or substitute) for connecting a person with their internet destination. Like an accurate street address, it’s all you really need to get you there. Naysayers and chicken little’s like to pontificate that somehow language will be replaced by some abstract technology (a series of grunts perhaps?) that will render domain names, or “web addresses”, obsolete. For that to happen, domain names would have to stop serving their purpose. All the more improbable since domains function perfectly for billions of internet users day in and day out.

The domain market has a bright future?

What we have witnessed over the last decade is universal acknowledgement of domain name value. No one had to pump it because it sold itself. You read much in forums about clear, descriptive domain names that are easily conveyed both in writing and in verbal communication. We call these great domains, premium domains, high-quality web addresses. These all mean the same thing: They’re the Best!

Just below “the best” is a multitude of excellent two and three word domain names each of which also describe a unique business, service, or product that internet users aim to find. Whether a single word, or a highly targeted three word phrase, domain names transport the user to their desired destination like no other technology or concept. Why is this? Because domain names (words) are: the simplest unit of language that function as a principal carrier of meaning. No getting around that. And therein lies their eternal value and universal importance.

So, the answer is self-evident. The domain market, like all markets, will ebb and flow, peak and valley. But within that cycle … is incredible opportunity. Domain values will continue to appreciate over longer time horizons. One is encouraged to ignore snapshots of time (which reveal little), and focus more on spans of time which are more accurate predictors of domain trends and future growth. From my perspective, the trend is both excellent and promising.

Domaining, as a relatively new business and investment vehicle, is widening out to catch the attention of corporations, venture capital investors, entrepreneurs, and the everyday person. It’s not about riding a wave that’s here today and gone tomorrow. The Domain Industry is a real market that is maturing and taking shape, and which will sustain over time. Because underneath the hoopla and the excitement on any given day, there is true relevancy and ongoing necessity for quality domain names. The evidence is everywhere. The evidence is all around us.

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