Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 1276 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to prohibit the bad faith registration of domain names on the Internet.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Lieutenant Governor and Verizon Hawaii. The International Trademark Association submitted comments.

Your Committee finds that since its inception, the Internet has been a largely unregulated industry. As a result, many of the rights citizens take for granted are susceptible to intrusion by other parties. Cybersquatting, or the use of an individual's or business's name as a domain name with "bad faith intent", is one such intrusion.

Your Committee further finds that the federal government has passed related legislation to protect consumers, and a recent California law provides additional protection for California residents. This measure is based on the California law. Your Committee has amended this measure to change "famous" to "public".

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1276, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1276, S.D. 1.