Chris Bosh’s Legal Victory Over Cybersquatter Liberates 800 Domain Names

We just registered the domain name for our startup (site not yet available). I was, as always, amazed and appalled at how hard it is to find an available domain other than "adlksfjlaksfjls.com". All of the obvious names for our product were already taken, and essentially none of them were actually in use.

My co-founder and I disagree on this one. He makes the (very valid) point that right of first sale should apply to domains just like anything else, and if you want to buy one and do nothing with it (or nothing yet), then that should be valid.

I can't disagree with him on that basis, but I think that the law needs to treat domains identically with real estate. In the former case, there are rules controlling what I can do with a piece of land I own; I am liable if it contains an attractive nuisance (e.g., a trampoline or swimming pool) on which a neighbor is hurt--the same could apply to open proxies and bot boxes. My neighbors have recourse if I allow my property to decay to the point where it is an eyesore or a health hazard. Similarly, companies that demonstrate a desire to USE a domain name should have recourse against squatters and speculaters.

A rare bright spot on what is all too often a dreary legal terrain, and all because a judge had the guts to cut past legal technicalities to do some rough justice (ordering a global assignment of all cyber-squatted names held by this fellow even though only one was at issue in the case).