Proposed New Law Would Make "Rights Holders" Judge, Jury and Executioner With Website Owners in Their Crosshairs

Proposed  New Law Would Make "Rights Holders" Judge, Jury and Executioner With Website Owners in Their Crosshairs

ICA Legal Counsel Phil Corwin posted some news on the Internet Commerce Association's website Thursday that should make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Some proposed new legislation (called the “E-PARASITE Act” - an acronym for ‘‘Enforcing and Protecting American Rights Against Sites Intent on Theft and Exploitation Act’’) is being considered in the U.S. House of Representatives that would put domain and website owners at the complete mercy of "rights holders."
Corwin, who is based in Washington, D.C. where he keeps an eye on all legislative matters that may impact domain owners, wrote this about the 79-page House proposal: "It would require payment providers and ad networks to terminate their services to a website upon mere receipt of a letter from a rights holder alleging that the website was one “dedicated to theft of U.S. property”.

 

ICA Legal Counsel Phil Corwin

So much for due process! Corwin noted, "Any domain registrant who has ever received an aggressive and unsupported cease-and-desist letter from a trademark attorney has got to be concerned by the prospect of having a domain’s ad and payment services shut down absent any court review. The bill would provide the website owner with the ability to seek after-the-fact judicial lifting of the ad and payment suspension – but this expensive and uncertain option would occur during a period when the website had been deprived of all income! Overall, this approach creates major due process concerns and clearly tips the balance against domain registrants and in favor of rights holders."

I would urge you to read Corwin's post that has all of the details about this ill-conceived idea and follow his recommendation that you immediately contact your Representative to alert them that the House Judiciary Committee will reportedly hold a hearing on the proposal on November 16th, 2011 with the intention of holding a “markup” to report it out of Committee shortly thereafter.

Corwin said that U.S. domain investors and developers should, at a minimum, request that the Judiciary Committee hold multiple balanced hearings to explore all the aspects of this complex and controversial proposal before proceeding to any votes.

A complete list of members of the House Judiciary Committee can be found at http://judiciary.house.gov/about/members.html.

One other note today. The ICM Registry has extended the .xxx Sunrise registration periods (that were originally scheduled to end today) for an additional three days. That means that rights holders will have an opportunity to secure their domains and protect their brands up to the new deadline which is Monday, October 31, 2011 at 16:00 UTC (Noon U.S. Eastern time).


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