Author name: fairwindsp

Josh Bourne ⬥ 13 May This week, FairWinds published a paper that was the culmination of research into the prevalence of malware among typos of popular websites’ domain names. We discovered that hundreds of these sites expose users to computer-infecting viruses, invasive spyware, or information-stealing Trojan horses.   Typically when we study typosquatting, we focus […]

Steve Levy ⬥ 11 May The Cleveland Browns can now take their place among the Green Bay Packers, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the New York Giants, and the Indianapolis Colts – not because the team has won a Super Bowl Championship in the last decade, but because it now owns the domain name version of its

Phil Lodico ⬥ 6 May I recently had the opportunity to read A. Michael Froomkin’s research paper, “Almost Free: An Analysis of ICANN’s ‘Affirmation of Commitments’” (AOC), which examines both the legal and political effects of the AOC. In my opinion, Froomkin’s research is thorough and enlightening, explaining how and why the AOC came into

Josh Bourne ⬥ 29 April Since ICANN set an updated timeline for the new gTLD program at the close of the public meeting in San Francisco, many in the Internet community have been caught up in the fervor of preparing for the imminent introduction of potentially hundreds of new domain name extensions. It’s time for

Josh Bourne ⬥ 22 April The South End, MA edition of Patch.com ran a story earlier this week about a new company called Swap.com that recently won Boston’s Green Business Award. The premise is just as it sounds – Swap.com is a social commerce site where people can connect to trade goods. It has documented

Josh Bourne ⬥ 21 April Over the past few months, various instances of “domain name seizures” have been making news. But what exactly does it mean when the U.S. government or a federal agency “seizes” a domain name? FairWinds did some digging online and made some interesting findings to elucidate this question. I started thinking

Josh Bourne ⬥ 20 April With ICANN’s publication of the latest draft of the Applicant Guidebook for new gTLDs (the April 2011 Discussion Draft) on Friday, conversation within the domain name space has turned to new gTLDs once again. Just last month, Japanese multinational Hitachi announced its plans to apply for a .HITACHI gTLD. That

Steve Levy ⬥ 15 April Here on the FairWinds blog, we have written extensively about social media username squatting, and the importance of companies securing the proper usernames and handles on different social networking sites in order to protect their brands. Our message has been straightforward: companies should be diligent about registering usernames early, because

Josh Bourne ⬥ 31 March Domain Name Wire recently reported that Digimedia, who according to its website “owns and maintains one of the highest-regarded domain name portfolios in the world [including] Recipes.com, FantasyFootball.com, Chairs.com, Dress.com, Trips.com, and Clinic.com,” wasawarded over $100,000 in a finding of reverse domain name hijacking (RDNH) against GoForIt Entertainment in the

FairWinds Partners ⬥ 30 March We are very proud to have two aspiring Olympic athletes as part of our team here at FairWinds. Both Morgan Wimberley, who works in our consulting practice, and Taylor Frank, who works in our transactional advisory business, row crew competitively and are vying for a spot on the U.S. Olympic

Samantha Demetriou ⬥ 24 March After penning yesterday’s blog post, I was tempted to do exactly two things: one, buy and consume an entire dozen cupcakes by myself; and two, do some research to see how other local cupcakeries here in Washington, DC, are faring in the digital space. Since I was closer to my

Samantha Demetriou ⬥ 23 March In my opinion, the worst thing that can happen to a cupcake is its frosting falling off. But after reading this article in today’s New York Post, I’ve realized that trademark infringement can be an equally harsh cupcake woe. The current owners of the famous New York sweet spot Magnolia