LINDA IKEJI ; DOMAIN NAME OPTIONS AVAILABLE TO HER

Linda Ikeji’s blog was removed by Google on the 8^th day of October, 2014 over allegation of copyright infringement, plagiarism and many more.

We shall be discussing what copyright and plagiarism is all about in order for the upcoming bloggers to learn if at all Linda Ikeji made any mistake or is guilty of any of the allegations?

What is Plagiarism?

This is the wrongful appropriation and stealing of another person’s work in its originality as one’s work. There is no law/ statue that criminalizes plagiarism neither is a civil wrong but it is important that if you must lift another person’s work in its originality, give credit to the original owner. Plagiarism is concerned with the unearned increment to the plagiarizing author’s reputation that is achieved through false claims of authorship; Plagiarism is considered a moral offense against the plagiarist’s audience.

Plagiarism is also considered a moral offence against who has provided the plagiarist with a benefit in exchange for what is specifically supposed to be original content.

Copyright is a violation of a copyright holder, when material whose use is restricted by copyright use without consent.

What is Domain Name?

This is a structured label which is connected to a specific Internet Protocol where the page is being hosted, if you must lay claim to any name you must acquire a domain name, until you do this you cannot lay claim on it,

A typical example is trading under a name that is not registered, it is not entirely yours until you register the name at the Corporate Affairs Commission, and whoever registers it first owns the name.

Concurrent Rights over Domain name.

Registration of Domain name is based on first come for serve, who ever registers a domain name first have the right over all other subsequent person that shows interest in the name. Simply because you have a registered name or service mark or have registered a company name for a lengthy period of time does not mean that another person with legitimate reason for registering the domain and who uses it in good faith must give it up.

What are the Options available to Linda Ikeji?

She can either buy from the registrants this is not unknown, cyber squatting has been one major way of dispute in registering domain names, registrants register names in bad faiths to gain some commercial advantage, this can involve trying to sell it back to a party it knows would be interested in having registration of domain name for an inflated price or more commonly using it to direct traffic to their website of a trade competitor of trademark holder in return for payment of a commission.

This is indeed trying time for Linda Ikeji having worked so hard for years. I wish her all the best knowing well that her coming back will be better than she was.

 

Thank you.

Oyenike Alliyu-Adebiyi LLB (hons)BL