We want to report an issue with zazzle.com that is alarming and we believe detrimental to the entire registration process.
Zazzle.com allows their store owners to assume the identity of actual. Coms by allowing their sellers to use the names of current online businesses.
We find this practice unethical as it promotes identity theft on a basic level, is plagiaristic in nature, and creates confusion in the market place.
For example: We have owned the domain name saintwear.com since 1999. Zazzle has allowed a zazzle store owner to use our unique domain name and is providing them a highly visible platform promoting them extensively in the major search engines and filtering their products to zazzle affilitate sites.
This zazzle store is selling to the same customer base as us and using our name saintwear to communicate with customers and market their products. Do a search for saintwear to see the result. Their listing shows up as saintwear: home: zazzle.com store, next to our real.com business listing.
Zazzle appears to have found a LOOPHOLE TO AVOID REGISTERRING of domain names by allowing their customers to sell products under assumed domain names within zazzle without paying to register them. Zazzle has created a competitive situation between registered. Coms and any joe q. Public store owner on zazzle that calls himself the.com registered name.
This behavior also directly undermines their own posing of trademark laws on their site at -http://zazzle. Custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/87/~/copyrighted-material-on-zazzle
We believe this business practice has the potential to become a major issue if left unchecked, and could possibly damage the image and success of actual registered. Coms globally, creating a mass effect of confusion in the online marketplace.
After all, what's the point of registering a.net, etc if you can just go to zazzle and assume the name of a.com, as your store name?
Zazzle's visibility in the marketplace also creates an unfair advantage against a registered.com as it allows them the opportunity to use their great power to undermine the marketing efforts of actual.com businesses who have spent years of establishing an image and persona only to have an unregistered zazzle store assume their name and create confusion.
Zazzle has great power and can choose to use this power for the betterment of our online communities or the detriment.in this form, we believe it is to the detriment of the long established and accepted online process and to the future of domain registry.
Thought you should be made aware of this.
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