IDN registrations through intimidation?

Fri Oct 31 20:45:58 CET 2008

Dear all,

I'm afraid that this is a scam or at least an overt ploy to either (1)
scare the recipient into registering variants of Chinese domain names,
or (2) fish for information about the recipient's business operations.
The WHOIS record for the domain 87global.hk shows it as being online for
under 2 months, and if the "company's" website is to be believed, it
does practically everything doable - from IT outsourcing to network
provider solutions and website hosting (not to mention domain name
registration). It also - oddly - has only the Inter-Registrar Dispute
Resolution Policy on its "Dispute Resolution" page.

Konstantinos, I think it best that your friend discontinue all further
communications with these folks and add them to his "spammers' block"
list.

Cheers
Mary

>>> Konstantinos Komaitis <k.komaitis at STRATH.AC.UK> 10/31/08 10:56 AM
>>>
I am not sure Adam, I couldn't find them at ICANN's list of registrars-
however, if you log on to their site they provide an ICANN logo, which
in case they are not it is completely misleading. The company's name
appears to be 87global.

Konstantinos

Dr. Konstantinos Komaitis

Lecturer in IT&T Law, Panellist,
Chair Membership Committee,
Global Internet Governance Academic Network,
University of Strathclyde,
The Law School,
141 St James Road,
Glasgow G4 0LT.

tel:+44 (0)141 548 4306
fax:+44 (0)141 548 3639
email: k.komaitis at strath.ac.uk
http://www.law.strath.ac.uk/staff/bio_sharepoint.aspx?id=75

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Non-Commercial User Constituency
[mailto:NCUC-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Adam Peake
> Sent: 31 October 2008 14:34
> To: NCUC-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
> Subject: Re: IDN registrations through intimidation?
>
> What's the name of the registrar, and are they ICANN accredited?
>
> Adam
>
>
> >Dear all,
> >
> >I am not sure whether this is of any interest
> >for the NCUC but this is what happened to a
> >student of mine. He registered the domain name
> ><http://www.braeheadfoods.co.uk/>http://www.braeheadfoods.co.uk/
> >on behalf of a company which is located here in
> >Scotland. The term Braehead merely represents a
> >location with a quite popular and busy shopping
> >centre here in Scotland but it is not by any
> >means well-known around the world. (I have added
> >at the end of this email their communication)
> >My student received an email from a Chinese
> >registrar claiming that another company Sefar
> >Soft Inc. is looking to register the same SLD in
> >China urging my student to register them first.
> >Sefar Soft Inc. most probably doesn¹t exist (I
> >conducted a google search on my own) and it
> >looks like the Chinese registrar is seeking to
> >intimidate my student in order to proceed to
> >various domain name registrations under the
> >Chinese gTLDs or ccTLDs. This is not the first
> >time I have heard of something like this
> >(something similar has happened to a friend of a
> >friend).
> >I think this is quite worrying as now with the
> >IDNs and the expansion of registries and
> >registrars some sort of control should be
> >maintained by ICANN as they will continue to try
> >and attract customers through intimidation. This
> >is something that I think should be addressed by
> >us as representatives of non-commercial users.
> >
> >Konstantinos
> >
> >Dr. Konstantinos Komaitis
> >
> >Lecturer in IT&T Law, Panellist,
> >Chair Membership Committee,
> >Global Internet Governance Academic Network,
> >University of Strathclyde,
> >The Law School,
> >141 St James Road,
> >Glasgow G4 0LT.
> >
> >tel:+44 (0)141 548 4306
> >fax:+44 (0)141 548 3639
> >email: k.komaitis at strath.ac.uk
> >http://www.law.strath.ac.uk/staff/bio_sharepoint.aspx?id=75
> >
> >From: andy.zhang [mailto:andy.zhang at china-dnr.hk]
> >Sent: 28 October 2008 01:33
> >To: Braehead Webmaster
> >Subject: Re: Re: URGENT_Notice of disputing
> >³braeheadfoods² domain name in China
> >
> >Dear Stephen Grant,
> >
> >Thanks for your confirmation. If you have no a> >be a pre-empt company who want to register your
> >domain names. We hereby suspect the company
> >"Sefar Soft Inc" is your competitor and intend
> >to enter Chinese Market by imitating your brand,
> >or "Sefar Soft Inc" is a domain grabber and
> >speculator.
> >Thus their representative in China submitted
> >this application through our body so we can not
> >get in touch with them full-face, this just our
> >conjecture. But as per the open registration
> >principle as "who is the first, who is the
> >owner" in China, we do not have any right to
> >reject their application. So our duty and
> >incumbency is informing you about this issue as
> >you are the holder of "www. braeheadfoods. com".
> >If your company consider those Domains are not
> >important at all and " Sefar Soft Inc." register
> >and use those names will not brings any negative
> >effects to your company ,we suggest that there
> >is no need wasting lots of time and energy to
> >process this matter. If your company consider
> >those Domain names are very important to your
> >company and very necessary to be protected that
> >we shall apply the priority of registration for
> >your company and register those Domain names
> >under your company's name.
> >Nevertheless this need you and your company cooperate with us.
> >In addition, please inform us your company's
> >decision of this issue. If your company do need
> >to register those Domains in China we will
> >transfer an formal Application Form and fill out
> >finished return to us by Fax or via E-mail. If
> >not need, we will pass the registration of
> >³Sefar Soft Inc² unconditionally. Of course we
> >will esteem your any decision also. Thanks for
> >your cooperation.
> >
> >Best Regards,
> >
> >Andy
> >
> >
> >andy.zhangÅC<mailto:%3c!--AID_FROMADDRESS_BEGIN--%3eandy.zhang at china-
> dnr.hk%3c!--AID_FROMADDRESS_END--%3e>andy.zhang at china-dnr.hk
> >2008-10-28
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: <mailto:webmaster at braeheadfoods.co.uk>Braehead Webmaster
> >To: <mailto:andy.zhang at china-dnr.hk>andy.zhang
> >Sent: 2008-10-28, 00:28:48
> >Subject: Re: URGENT_Notice of disputing ³braeheadfoods² domain name
in China
> >
> >Hi Andy,
> >
> >"Sefar Soft Inc" are not a business partner or subsidiary company of
> >ours and as such we would not like them to use our trademarked name
and
> >second level domain in the suggested domain names. Could you please
> >advise me on how you wish to proceed.
> >
> >-Stephen Grant
> >On behalf of Braehead Foods Ltd
> >
> >
> >
> >andy.zhang wrote:
> >>  Dear CEO,
> >>  We are the department of registration service in China. we have
> >>  something need to confirm with you. We formally received an
> >>  application on Oct. 24th 2008, One company which self-styled
³Sefar
> >>  Soft Inc² are applying to register ³braeheadfoods² as internet
brand
> >>  and domain names as below :
> >>  braeheadfoods.asia
> >>  braeheadfoods.cn
> >>  braeheadfoods.com.cn
> >>  braeheadfoods.com.hk
> >>  braeheadfoods.com.tw
> >>  braeheadfoods.hk
> >>  braeheadfoods.in
> >>  braeheadfoods.net.cn
> >>  braeheadfoods.org.cn
> >>  braeheadfoods.tw
> >>  braeheadfoods.com.vn
> >>  braeheadfoods.co.in
> >>  After our initial checking, we found the internet brand and these
> >>  domain names being applied are as same as your company's, so we
need
> >>  to get the confirmation from your company. If the aforesaid
company is
> >>  your business partner or your subsidiary company, please DO NOT
reply
> >>  us, we will approve the application automatically. If you have no
any
> >>  relationship with this company, please contact us within 7
workdays.
> >>  If out of the deadline, we will approve the application submitted
by
> >>  "Sefar Soft Inc." unconditionally.
> >>
> >>  Best Regards,
> >>  Andy Zhang
> >>  Senior Consultant
> >>  /Tel:00852-31781989Fax:00852-31758227
> >>  Website: /www.87global.hk
<<http://www.87global.hk/>http://www.87global.hk/>
> >>  /Address:UnitA,5/F,Max share Centre