Domain Tasting and WIPO

[mandy]

The fairness of the domain name system is being undermined by a new practice that turns domain names into commodities for speculative gain, according to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), which oversees many domain name disputes...

The body believes, though, that a controversial practice known as "domain name tasting" poses a threat to legitimate brand owners who cannot keep pace.

Domain tasting involves the registration of domains and cancellation of them within five days. Registrants of .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info and .pro names are entitled to a full refund when they delete a domain within that period...

full article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/16/...n_tasting/

[Kristijntje]

A related article: Google to Kill Domain Tasting

A confidential informant says Google will stop monetizing all domains if they are less then five days old. This potential new policy change by Google could stop all Domain Tasting in its tracks. The Add Grace Period (AGP) is a time period when registrars can delete a domain at no cost, but in this time frame a registrant could register millions of these temporary domains and place Google Adsense for Domains on them. The result is the ability to produce millions of temporary websites that literally generate millions of dollars in income per week for Google. It was disclosed in court that one partner that Google had was generating as much as $3 million dollars a month from the practice and that was after Google’s revenue share. Oversee.net and other companies have been using this practice for years and it will have a direct impact on them. The gravy train of free money might be coming to a halt very fast. This policy change at Google should be announced to the channel partners soon and it will have a huge echoing impact on the Industry...

full article: http://blog.domaintools.com/2008/01/goog...n-tasting/

[mandy]

More bad news for domain tasters:

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) is looking to end the five-day grace period when registering a domain, and to start charging the annual fee on registrar domain registrations...

"Charging the Icann fee as soon as a domain name is registered would close the loophole used by tasters to test a domain name's profitability for free...

full article: http://www.pcw.co.uk/vnunet/news/2208599...in-tasting