Riding on the NFT craze arrives the so-called Web3 domain name squatting.
Numerous non-official TLDs that exist on the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) blockchain are being registered and that’s a good thing. What’s not so good is the high number of trademark and brand infringements that take place in that namespace.
Popular companies, their products and combinations thereof are created on the blockchain in Web3 extensions such as .eth. These domains are then listed on marketplaces such as OpenSea, seeking a buyer that might or might not target the companies in question.
OpenSea has terms and conditions in place forbidding such listings and Web3 domain opportunists are gawking in surprise when their infringing domain listings are deleted. Here’s one such case that involves the ENS domain Calvin-Klein.eth:
The ensuing exchange (we wouldn’t call it discussion) on Twitter is absolutely hilarious, with people attacking OpenSea and even referencing their past history with regular domain squatting:
wtf, that like GoDaddy allowing you to buy Calvin Klein.com and then after you buy it and list for sale they take it down because CK want it… How does that work?
That happened to me in 1997. I registered a few domains names for brands and pretty soon got attorneys from the companies contact me and threaten legal action. I was a kid and didn’t want to take a risk. Had to transfer the domains over. That’s when I learned to register generic
this didn’t happen even whit the .com domains wich are centralized
It seems that Web3 aficionados also believe (falsely) that ENS is the wild west and that DMCA rules do not apply.
i’ve upgraded to Web 3.1
It’s got FadBlockPro