.mobi Conspiracy: Toys.mobi vs YouTube.mobi

[webecri]

Interesting find:

I was searching through Sedo and spotted the domain Toys.mobi for sale. I wanted to place a bid and thought to take a look at the whois first.

Domain Name:TOYS.MOBI
Created On:20-Sep-2006 07:38:33 UTC
Last Updated On:05-Jan-2007 15:32:08 UTC
Expiration Date:20-Sep-2008 07:38:33 UTC
Trademark Name:toys
Trademark Country:CN
Trademark Number:32483129
Date Trademark Applied For:1997-09-09
Date Trademark Registered:2001-09-11
Sponsoring Registrar:HiChina Web Solutions (Hong Kong) Limited (420)
Created by Registrar:HiChina Web Solutions (Hong Kong) Limited (420)
Last Updated by Registrar:HiChina Web Solutions (Hong Kong) Limited (420)
Status:OK
Registrant ID:hc665239907-cn
Registrant Name:fangrong cheng
Registrant Organization:shanghai xiongsheng
Registrant Street1:shanghai longhualu2518nong47hao2ashi
Registrant City:shanghai
Registrant State/Province:shanghai
Registrant Postal Code:200232
Registrant Country:CN
Registrant Phone:+86.02154073260
Registrant FAX:+86.02154073112
Registrant Email:home008@gmail.com
Admin ID:hc665239907-cn
Admin Name:fangrong cheng
Admin Organization:shanghai xiongsheng
Admin Street1:shanghai longhualu2518nong47hao2ashi
Admin City:shanghai
Admin State/Province:shanghai
Admin Postal Code:200232
Admin Country:CN
Admin Phone:+86.02154073260
Admin FAX:+86.02154073112
Admin Email:[email protected]
Tech ID:hichina001-cn
Tech Name:hichina
Tech Organization:HiChina Web Solutions Limited
Tech Street1:3/F., HiChina Mansion
Tech Street2:No.27 Gulouwai Avenue
Tech Street3:Dongcheng District
Tech City:Beijing
Tech State/Province:Beijing
Tech Postal Code:100011
Tech Country:CN
Tech Phone:+86.01064242299
Tech FAX:+86.01064258796
Tech Email:[email protected]
Name Server:DNS11.HICHINA.COM
Name Server:DNS12.HICHINA.COM


I rembered the whois of YouTube.mobi

Domain Name:YOUTUBE.MOBI
Created On:19-Sep-2006 04:44:58 UTC
Last Updated On:05-Jan-2007 15:39:05 UTC
Expiration Date:19-Sep-2008 04:44:58 UTC
Trademark Name:youtube
Trademark Country:CN
Trademark Number:20738014
Date Trademark Applied For:2000-01-01
Date Trademark Registered:2002-03-05
Sponsoring Registrar:HiChina Web Solutions (Hong Kong) Limited (420)
Created by Registrar:HiChina Web Solutions (Hong Kong) Limited (420)
Last Updated by Registrar:HiChina Web Solutions (Hong Kong) Limited (420)
Status:OK
Registrant ID:hc579316975-cn
Registrant Name:Qilu Tang
Registrant Organization:tang qi lu
Registrant Street1:Flat208 Unit2 Bld No3, Nanshanlu 222, Hangzhou, Zhejiang
Registrant City:hangzhou
Registrant State/Province:zhejiang
Registrant Postal Code:310002
Registrant Country:CN
Registrant Phone:+86.057187062428
Registrant FAX:+86.057187034760
Registrant Email:tangqilu@gmail.com
Admin ID:hc579316975-cn
Admin Name:Qilu Tang
Admin Organization:tang qi lu
Admin Street1:Flat208 Unit2 Bld No3, Nanshanlu 222, Hangzhou, Zhejiang
Admin City:hangzhou
Admin State/Province:zhejiang
Admin Postal Code:310002
Admin Country:CN
Admin Phone:+86.057187062428
Admin FAX:+86.057187034760
Admin Email:[email protected]
Tech ID:hichina001-cn
Tech Name:hichina
Tech Organization:HiChina Web Solutions Limited
Tech Street1:3/F., HiChina Mansion
Tech Street2:No.27 Gulouwai Avenue
Tech Street3:Dongcheng District
Tech City:Beijing
Tech State/Province:Beijing
Tech Postal Code:100011
Tech Country:CN
Tech Phone:+86.01064242299
Tech FAX:+86.01064258796
Tech Email:[email protected]
Name Server:DNS11.HICHINA.COM
Name Server:DNS12.HICHINA.COM


- The TM-sunrise closed on the 22nd of September 2006. For both domains the TM holder applied only two or three days before the end of the sunrise. If you had an TM on YouTube or Toys, why would you wait until the end of the sunrise?
- Why is it that both companies have a gmail address?
- The applicant for Toys.mobi has to be a domainer, because this domain is for sale on Sedo now. A domainer with a TM on Toys (from 1997-09-09) would probably apply in an earlier stage for this beauty.


What have the two applicants in common:

- both applied in the last days of the TM sunrise
- both a gmail address
- both from China
- using the same registrar
- both applied for really wanted domains within 28 hours

This could be pure coincidence, but my opinion is that it stinks…

 

[agent006]

good find, i wonder how this one will go down, youtube i would imagine is risky

 

[ezinaz]

I opened a thread on this very topic (toys.mobi) a while back, because I was arguing that the trademark of toys.mobi was probably not valid. I have been in negotiations for the toys.mobi domain, but the owner has been difficult to contact. When I notified mtld.mobi of this possible trademark problem, here is the response that I received:

Dear Eric,



Thank you for your email which I have just picked up (please note that Pinky’s email address is [email protected]).



dotMobi conducted a random audit of trademark names in liaison with PwC last year. A number of domains were cancelled by virtue of that process. In addition to this, we had a sunrise challenge period which ran from August 28th to December 15th 2006. This process was administered by the World Intellectual Property Organisation and was open to both trademark holders and non trademark holders alike to challenge a .mobi sunrise registration.



Any challenges from here on in must be addressed via the UDRP process. If you feel that your trademark rights are violated, it is open to you to pursue a challenge.



I hope this helps clarify.



Thank you once again and it is good to see that you are a dotMobi supporter!

Kind regards,



Caroline Greer

Senior Manager, Policy

11 Exchange Place, IFSC, Dublin 1

Basically, what they are saying is that it is too late to challenge the validity of the trademarks. Other domains were chosen at random and the trademark was found to be invalid or the claim unjustified, and those domains were released (most likely the cause of the now infamous "drops" of attorney.mobi, sportsbook.mobi, jewelry.mobi, etc...). Basically it appears that there were many attempts to trademark "grab" some high value domain names by quite a few different players. Those that were not audited however, appear to have gotten away scott free and are untouchable now.

Doesn't seem to fair to me. I'm not saying that the toys.mobi claim is not valid in the Chinese system, but how can you justify the trademark of such a generic name like "toys". I don't know how to look up Chinese trademark 32483129 to validate the "toys" trademark. But I'd bet my virgins.mobi that it doesn't exist.

Also, did anyone notice the "Registered Date" on toys.mobi? Does that strike a bell with anyone?

Date Trademark Registered:2001-09-11

 

[netfounder]

I agree with you, I come from china too.
as i know.chinese investors hold a lots of TM issue dotMOBI.
It is not secret.
I cant image result,but IMO,before protect period snap TMs,all risky

 

[ezinaz]

Also, fangrong cheng responds from both the Admin e-mail: [email protected] and the Tech e-mail [email protected], so apparently he works for and might be the domain administrator for HiChina Web Solutions, which is China's largest domain registration service provider.

Sounds like an inside job to me. Why would a domain registrar own a valid trademark for "toys"? This situation doesn't pass the smell test.

Domain Name:TOYS.MOBI
Created On:20-Sep-2006 07:38:33 UTC
Last Updated On:05-Jan-2007 15:32:08 UTC
Expiration Date:20-Sep-2008 07:38:33 UTC
Trademark Name:toys
Trademark Country:CN
Trademark Number:32483129
Date Trademark Applied For:1997-09-09
Date Trademark Registered:2001-09-11
Sponsoring Registrar:HiChina Web Solutions (Hong Kong) Limited (420)
Created by Registrar:HiChina Web Solutions (Hong Kong) Limited (420)
Last Updated by Registrar:HiChina Web Solutions (Hong Kong) Limited (420)
Status:OK
Registrant ID:hc665239907-cn
Registrant Email:[email protected]
Admin ID:hc665239907-cn
Admin Name:fangrong cheng
Admin Organization:shanghai xiongsheng
Admin Street1:shanghai longhualu2518nong47hao2ashi
Admin City:shanghai
Admin State/Province:shanghai
Admin Postal Code:200232
Admin Country:CN
Admin Phone:+86.02154073260
Admin FAX:+86.02154073112
Admin Email:[email protected]
Tech ID:hichina001-cn
Tech Name:hichina
Tech Organization:HiChina Web Solutions Limited
Tech Street1:3/F., HiChina Mansion
Tech Street2:No.27 Gulouwai Avenue
Tech Street3ongcheng District
Tech City:Beijing
Tech State/Province:Beijing
Tech Postal Code:100011
Tech Country:CN
Tech Phone:+86.01064242299
Tech FAX:+86.01064258796
Tech Email:[email protected]
Name ServerNS11.HICHINA.COM
Name ServerNS12.HICHINA.COM

I wonder if HiChina got a free pass from the Pricewaterhouse Cooper trademark audit because of the relationship between dotMobi and HiChina. dotMobi...you's got some explaining to do.

Article Link

dotMobi Goes Back To China
Neil Edwards, the CEO of dotMobi, and I recently made another trip to China. If you recall, we made our first trip there to meet our partners China DNS and HiChina. HiChina in fact was the first registrar to get accredited in China for dotMobi. We also did a press conference to introduce dotMobi to the market, not as yet another domain name, but rather a standards based approach to accelerate mobile content for the Chinese consumer. (Recall that China has over 100 million Internet subscribers and over 450 million mobile subscribers.)

We talked about the development tools that we plan to offer. The press conference was held on December 8 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Beijing and was attended, not only by our registrar partners, but also by more than 40 members of the press.

Stan Zhang, the CEO of HiChina spoke about the results of his campaign and especially about the fact that the focus is on content. (Btw, he practices what he preaches; he has his own company's .mobi site up and running.)

Jiang Qun, the CEO of ChinaDNS also spoke in support of dotMobi and his company's focus around mobile initiatives

.

 

[BocaVision]

likely a Quid pro quo

 

[namewaiter]

aahhhmmmmmm

 

[hawkeye]

Probably why he is selling it now, so it becomes someone elses problem tomorrow!!

 

[yoyosean]

Guys, China is a closed society you have to grease palms with the powerful to get things done, if providing these guys with a couple of domains provides .mobi access to the Chinese market so be it.

Lets think as business people for a second.

 

[ezinaz]

Guys, China is a closed society you have to grease palms with the powerful to get things done, if providing these guys with a couple of domains provides .mobi access to the Chinese market so be it.

Lets think as business people for a second.

He's a domain administrator for a registrar. How much power could he possibly have?
If it's not outright stealing, it's definitely highly unethical. dotMobi should go back and validate this trademark.

 

[martinpy]

This is a 'TM guy'. He owns tons of TMs.

Don't be too amazed when you look up these names through whois database.
222.mobi
333.mobi
345.mobi
toys.mobi

 

[yoyosean]

anybody that is in any business in china in any capacity to do business is powerful.

 

[stonegogo]

Most of you have a mood in envy!

Isn't flowers a trademark???

If these common words matter ,what can we reg????

 

[hedgefund]

Sorry, I don't understand what you are trying to say.

 

[buydomainz]

i will bid the toys.mobi

no matter whose it is, i just have interest with strong meaningful names.

 

[mtvplayer]

if you hold TM : flowers. but your company don't want to reg mobi, so nobody can reg flowers.mobi?

 

[okapi]

the problem imho is: tm holders can get their tm domain, but if they sell their tm domains, it's sure that their tm exist with the sole purpose of get those domains.

 

[martinpy]

wow.
The problem is that, the guy doesn't own any trade mark.

He made a fake trade mark,
then used the fake trade mark to register names.

It's illegal!