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NEWS Dotcom’s Mega has ‘more than 3 million’ users


Kim Dotcom claims his cloud storage site Mega has signed up more than 3 million users and hosts 125 million files, just one month aſter launching.


In a tweet posted on February, 19, he said: “Mega launched one month ago: 3M+ users, 125M+ files, encryption unbroken, most bugs fixed, mobile apps & sync client coming soon.”


Dotcom also announced that the US was among the top five countries using the site last week.


Mega is the successor to Dotcom’s file-sharing site Megaupload, which US authorities shut down


in January 2012 for hosting allegedly pirated content.


Dotcom was arrested for running the site and is now on bail in Auckland, New Zealand. Te US Justice Department is seeking to extradite him to the US to stand trial for alleged copyright infringement.


Mega is similar to Megaupload as it allows users to store and share large files, but the site also employs user controlled encryption technology


(UCE), which gives users control over who can view and access their files.


Dotcom believes this technology will protect him from being found liable for future infringements committed by Mega users, as the site’s administrators cannot see what files are being shared.


Adam Rendle, an associate at Taylor Wessing LLP in London, said that rights owners are likely to be just as concerned about Mega’s success as they were about Megaupload’s, particularly because UCE could make it harder for them to detect and identify infringement.


Gerard Kelly, a partner at Mathesons Ormsby Prentice in Dublin, said Mega shows just how quickly alternative file-sharing sites can be set up in reaction to litigation or criminal enforcement initiated by rights holders.


“Tose that are determined to infringe copyright can find new facilities to do so, and infringer transition to new websites can happen within a very short period of time,” he said.


ICANN names gTLD launch date


Te Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has targeted April 23, 2013 as the date to launch the first new generic top-level domains (gTLDs).


In a video interview published on Friday, ICANN chief executive Fadi Chehadé said the organisation was on track to “recommend” the date for processing more than 1,900 gTLDs.


But he added: “I want to be very clear—there are some things we can’t control that may cause this date to slip.”


For example, registries still don’t have any guidance on how to connect to the Trademark Clearinghouse, a central database of trademarks that can send warnings to alleged cybersquatters. Chehadé stressed that any delays would last weeks, not months.


Tis is the first time that ICANN, which plans to launch 20 new gTLDs per week, has specified when the domains will be ready to go live.


Reaction to the news was both positive and cautious. Jon Nevett, co-founder of Donuts, the largest gTLD applicant, said: “It's gratifying to have ICANN provide some predictability about


www.worldipreview.com


“Contracts need to be agreed, rights protection mechanisms need to be put in place, the Trademark Clearinghouse needs to be operational—hopefully, with a bucket-load of trademarks lodged in it. Tere are plenty of cogs, technical, procedural and commercial, which need to be in place before ICANN can meet its stated ambition of churning out new strings at a rate of 20 per week.”


introducing new gTLDs, and we applaud Fadi for this leadership. Aſter almost eight years of process, we’re ready to bring the benefits of new gTLDs to market.”


Andy Churley, group marketing director at


NetNames, an online brand protection company, said ICANN still has work to do before it can start processing the new domains.


Tere is also still uncertainty about the scope of the Clearinghouse. IP and business constituencies lobbied for ICANN to amend the Clearinghouse model. Teir suggestions include extending the trademark claims period, which sends warnings to alleged cybersquatters, from 60 to 90 days aſter individual registries launch. ICANN is analysing the public comments on the suggestions before deciding whether to implement them as updated or new policy.


In addition, some applications are still


contested by multiple applicants, and auctions may be required to separate the so-called contention sets.


Te first new gTLD on the Internet will be the Chinese-language version of .catholic. 


Trademarks Brands and the Internet Volume 2, Issue 1 9


“Te concern for rights holders is that this will result in ‘chasing one’s tail’ in seeking to stamp out illegal file-sharing, with the cost of court proceedings accumulating for an industry that is, by its own admission, already under economic pressure from such activity.


Kelly also points out that the new Mega


model will require a re-think of traditional IP enforcement strategies, including persuading service providers to engage in open peer-to-peer networks. But he is confident rights holders will find a way to adapt.


Rendle added that there is no guarantee that


Dotcom will be immune from prosecution. “Rights owners


could argue that Mega’s


administrators are merely relying on ‘Nelsonian blindness’ to try to avoid being implicated in users’ activities. If the wider circumstances are in the rights owners’ favour, they would look to demonstrate that [Mega’s] operators are encouraging, condoning or


participating in users’ infringements and are therefore liable.” 


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