Gregory's Server
@violet @chriswho The trademark dilution argument was used to try to drive ICANN to grant prodigious powers to trademark holders to suppress or usurp domain names that the TM holder felt was tarnishing their "precious" mark.
One of the most aggressive of these was the right-wing guy who owned Overstuck who tried to assert ownership, via tarneshment, over pretty much every thing on the internet that used a circular shaped character.
@karlauerbach
One of the most insidious examples was Uzi Nissan vs. Nissan Motor Corporation. Uzi Nissan owned nissan dot com, under which he operated several private businesses. It was obviously a legitimate use of the domain. When Nissan Motors decided to join the web, they found that "their" domain was already taken, so they politely asked him to sell it to them.
Just kidding. They started throwing lawyers at him, suing him for cybersquatting and trademark infringement (even though Uzi did not use any of their registered trademarks). They kept appealing and launching new suits, and Uzi Nissan kept fighting them. Sadly, the corporation eventually won when Uzi Nissan passed away.
@chriswho
@karlauerbach
One of the most insidious examples was Uzi Nissan vs. Nissan Motor Corporation. Uzi Nissan owned nissan dot com, under which he operated several private businesses. It was obviously a legitimate use of the domain. When Nissan Motors decided to join the web, they found that "their" domain was already taken, so they politely asked him to sell it to them.