5 ms·

Instagram has a business portal. When your site could easily be mistaken as an official company channel, that should not be allowed.

by gibolt 7y ago

AlexandrB 7y ago
But the language on Facebook's press release implies that the names themselves are misleading. They don't mention the content. I'm not disputing that the sites themselves are scammy/phishing, but what Facebook is saying here sounds like an overreach that amounts to "using Facebook trademarked names in a domain name is misleading and inherently untrustworthy".
bavell 7y ago
This seems like a bad knee-jerk reaction, not a real solution. My company also has a business portal. Can I take down domains that are similar to it as well? Or is this power just reserved for MegaCorp Inc. who can afford large legal teams? At what point does a company become large enough to warrant "protection" of domains similar to their own? Who makes that decision and is there any dispute process? Etc, etc... So many questions and potential pitfalls surrounding this approach. I don't know if there's any better realistic "solution" than to let users ultimately be responsible for the domains they visit. Not much of a solution but I don't see any better options that are both realistic and helpful.
- Kalium 7y ago
  There's an ICANN process that allows you to file exactly this sort of domain-specific takedown notice. https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/help/dndr/udrp-en https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/help/dndr/udrp-en The big drawback of the process it that it doesn't work well for phishing attacks, where taking down one domain is of limited value. It's designed more for things like nissan.com
shaneprrlt 7y ago
So if you started a small consulting company helping people advertise or build a brand on Instagram, and your website was instagrambusinesshelp.com, Facebook has the right to say "not allowed"? Do I also have the right to impose rules on other businesses naming conventions [1], or no because I'm not a $500B company? [1] In a fair use context, not blatant copyright/trademark infringement or posing as the company in a phishing context.
- derision 7y ago
  There is no fair context for that under the law. The name is trademarked so unless you have approval from Facebook to use their trademark then using it is not legal. It's not that complicated.
  - mcbits 7y ago
    Maybe domain names are treated differently from book titles, but I don't see why they should be. There certainly is fair use of trademarks in book titles if the use is descriptive, not likely to lead to confusion about who produced the book, and can't be effectively replaced with a more generic term. E.g. "That Popular Graphics Editor for Dummies" isn't a sensible substitute for "CorelDRAW! for Dummies".

Instagram has a business portal. When your site could easily be mistaken as an official company channel, that should not be allowed.

by gibolt 7y ago

Instagram has a business portal. When your site could easily be mistaken as an official company channel, that should not be allowed.

AlexandrB 7y ago

But the language on Facebook's press release implies that the names themselves are misleading. They don't mention the content. I'm not disputing that the sites themselves are scammy/phishing, but what Facebook is saying here sounds like an overreach that amounts to "using Facebook trademarked names in a domain name is misleading and inherently untrustworthy".

bavell 7y ago

This seems like a bad knee-jerk reaction, not a real solution. My company also has a business portal. Can I take down domains that are similar to it as well? Or is this power just reserved for MegaCorp Inc. who can afford large legal teams? At what point does a company become large enough to warrant "protection" of domains similar to their own? Who makes that decision and is there any dispute process? Etc, etc... So many questions and potential pitfalls surrounding this approach. I don't know if there's any better realistic "solution" than to let users ultimately be responsible for the domains they visit. Not much of a solution but I don't see any better options that are both realistic and helpful.

Kalium 7y ago
There's an ICANN process that allows you to file exactly this sort of domain-specific takedown notice. https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/help/dndr/udrp-en https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/help/dndr/udrp-en The big drawback of the process it that it doesn't work well for phishing attacks, where taking down one domain is of limited value. It's designed more for things like nissan.com

shaneprrlt 7y ago

So if you started a small consulting company helping people advertise or build a brand on Instagram, and your website was instagrambusinesshelp.com, Facebook has the right to say "not allowed"? Do I also have the right to impose rules on other businesses naming conventions [1], or no because I'm not a $500B company? [1] In a fair use context, not blatant copyright/trademark infringement or posing as the company in a phishing context.

derision 7y ago
There is no fair context for that under the law. The name is trademarked so unless you have approval from Facebook to use their trademark then using it is not legal. It's not that complicated.
- mcbits 7y ago
  Maybe domain names are treated differently from book titles, but I don't see why they should be. There certainly is fair use of trademarks in book titles if the use is descriptive, not likely to lead to confusion about who produced the book, and can't be effectively replaced with a more generic term. E.g. "That Popular Graphics Editor for Dummies" isn't a sensible substitute for "CorelDRAW! for Dummies".