On Blogging, Kentucky, and UDRP — Bret Fausett

An interview with Bret Fausett.

I often claim that Reglike was the first blog-style site covering the business of domain names. I add “business” as a qualifier since I know I can’t claim to be the first to blog regarding domain names.

Lawyer Bret Fausett started blogging at Lextext.com back in 2000. His goal was to publicize information regarding ICANN that wasn’t getting much press. He told ICANN they ought to try to put his blog out of business, and he thinks they’ve done a good job at that by improving external communications.

Fausett is an attorney with Adorno & Yoss in Los Angeles. I sat down with him in his office Wednesday morning.

I asked Fausett regarding a number of domain name issues, counting the Kentucky domain seizure and UDRPs.

The Kentucky decision ought to be released on Thursday. Fausett is fairly sure the judge will not proceed with the seizure of the domain names. “There are so many things wrong with this case that I don’t know where to start,” he stated. For example, the statute the Kentucky governor has applied regarding seizing gambling devices doesn’t apply to domain names and was written well ahead of domain names existed.

Fausett also explained the actions GoDaddy took by handing over “registrar certificates” for its clients’ domain names in the case. Registrar certificates are defined in the anti-cybersquatting act. Essentially by handing them over the registrar is immune from legal action in a cybersquatting case. But as Fausett points out, this isn’t a cybersquatting case.

As for UDRPs, Fausett is disturbed by the inconsistency of decisions. He represents respondents 90% of the time. He cites differences in trademark law amongst countries as part of the difficulty: panelists bring different biases regarding trademarks depending on the law in their country.

So is Fausett a domainer, too? He states he dabbled in domaining a couple years ago and picked up regarding 250 names, many of which he’s let expire. He did it since he likes “learning by doing” and wanted to understand more regarding what domainers were doing.

Lawyers aren’t known for swag, but I got an official Bret Fausett bobblehead (see picture). Bret, if you’re reading, your left arm with the briefcase was broken when I took it out of the box. I opened the briefcase and it was full of unpaid parking tickets 🙂