Interesting spam received: This email is ... / 2012-05-07

Interesting spam received:

This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration and dispute internationally in China and Asia.
On May 4th 2012, We received Tianhua Ltd's application that they are registering the name " [domain name] " as their Internet Keyword and " [domain name].cn ", " [domain name].com.cn ", " [domain name].asia " domain names etc..., they are China and ASIA domain names. But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so we are sending you this email to check. According to the principle in China, your company is the owner of the trademark, In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!

Interesting is when you search the web for "asia internet keyword" the first hits are Internet trademark scam - Asian internet brand keyword - Asia internet trademarks, Domain name scams. The "Internet trademark" system seems to actually exist in China, so this is not a complete scam. Anyway, when you depend heavily on being findable in China this may be something to look into, but through a respectable registrar, not in response to spam.

I just amuse myself by checking from time to time whether my websites are reachable from behind the Great Chinese Firewall. This is a much bigger risk to websites which depend on reaching a Chinese audience. One such test is available from greatfirewallofchina.org.

Update 2012-05-25: They keep at it, this time:

We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in Shanghai, China. On May 22, 2012, we received an application from Hengtong comp any requested " [domain name] " as their internet keyword and China (CN) domain names. But after checking it, we find this name conflict with your company name or trademark.

The fun part is there is no company name or trademark at all, just a domain name. I used the term 'website name' before but this is for a domain name which is not actively used to name the website.

I am still not convinced this is anything more than trying to scam money from domain name owners who get scared their trade in that huge growing economy in China might be at risk. Via spam, and spammers lie.