Up Apple domain example in ICANN hearing — Walden messes
Chairman of committee calls out iPad.com as an example of someone buying a domain just to sell it to a big brand.
Want to know how to lose credibility in a hurry?
Take a look at the statement of Greg Walden Chairman, Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Hearing, for today’s hearing regarding fresh top level domains. The representative from Oregon uses Apple as his example for the cost firms incur protecting their brands on the web. Here’s the choice quote:
To illustrate concerns of critics [of the fresh TLD program], consider the number of domains a firm may be faced with registering. Apple, for example, has apple.com, iphone.com, icloud.com, and ichat.com. Ipad.com, still, displays nothing more than a splash page that states a site is coming soon – likely meaning someone bought the domain name in anticipation of selling it to Apple.
You know what they say regarding making assumptions?
The problem is that iPad.com was registered in 2001. The first iPad didn’t come out until 2010. The current owner of iPad.com has owned it since at least 2008.
A similar thing happened with iPhone.com, a perfectly legitimate phone site that Apple later bought.
Would the owner of iPad.com love to sell it to Apple? Probably. But one of Walden’s staffers didn’t do his homework.
