As today's meeting covered the topic of Research Opportunities, perhaps ALAC members might benefit from reviewing a timely piece of research: "Whats In A Name: The State of Typo-Squatting 2007" http://us.mcafee.com/root/identitytheft.asp?id=safe_typo&cid=38296 The research reveals the need for a fair amount of policy work; here are a few suggestions that came to mind after having read the McAfee research: (1) As there is no single definition of typo-squatting used internationally, an effort to harmonize definitions might be a helpful initiative. (2) As the proliferation of squatters, the difficulty inherent in cross-jurisdictional disputes and the high cost of arbitration and litigation make it difficult at best for mark holders to dispute each and every case of squatting, perhaps a variant of the UDRP needs to be created with an inexpensive fast-track process designed for clear-cut typosquatting cases. (3) Dealing with the "missing dot" (the dot between the www and the domain is removed). Example: wwwmicrosoft.com. Perhaps the notion of placing the www string (as a prefix) on a reserved names list might be examined as a matter of new gTLD policy to help curtail one particular category of typo-squatting activity. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better pen pal. Text or chat with friends inside Yahoo! Mail. See how. http://overview.mail.yahoo.com/