Re: First come/First served

[Aveek Datta <MoNoLiTH+@CMU.EDU>]

Excerpts from newdom: 18-Nov-96 Re: First come/First served by Bob
Allisat@wtv.net 
>  That's absurd Aveek. I have
>  prior use of .WTV and .FCN
>  If you want to steal that
>  from me the next step is the
>  courts. Open it wide and let
>  anyone who can meet the basic
>  technical requirements. Recall
>  that up to 10,000 new TLD's
>  can be easily accomodated.

Of course, not surprising that big business will resort to legal
threats. Very Denninger-like indeed. 

In any case, I do not know or do not really care what the legal basis
behind "prior use" is. I'm not a lawyer. It'll be an interesting case if
someone DOES try the prior use clause; I'd like to see it work in
international court. Anyone with more legal background care to comment
on the legality of the "prior use" case? 

I do not want any of the Alternic TLDs. At this point I do not want any
TLD since I know I can not operate them at the level required. The other
volunteers and I at ML.ORG are learning from day to day operation of a
small registry that grows larger every day some of the major issues that
registries face. Operating a commercial registry does require some
investment of capital which I currently do not have. On the other hand,
the administrator of EU.ORG, the other World Wide Free Domain service,
has expressed interest along with me to start a free top level domain.
Don't worry, it's not one of your precious previous-use domains. So even
though I do not expect to be part of the new TLD process in the first
round, I do have interest in the future in such a TLD.

So the bottom line is I can not comment on the legality of their claims.
But there are plenty of laws which don't make sense or are unfair. You
live by them by being a citizen in a given country. That doesn't mean
you have to like them. And since I'm from the USA, I'm using my right to
speak out against it.

I'm happy to know that at least one member of IAHC has similar feelings,
so all the companies and businesses that did not feel the need to hijack
"." as the Alternic has or take squatter rights on top level domains get
a fair shake. 

Aveek

 Aveek Datta           _ _ _   _                Email: aveek@andrew.cmu.edu
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