Re: New TLDs and Registry charters

[Michael Dillon <michael@memra.com>]

On Sat, 7 Dec 1996, Karl Auerbach wrote:

> Here's the rationale -- I'd have to register in .tm because to do
> otherwise might be construed as an implicit statement that I'm not
> protecting my trademark (in the same way that I would be weakening my mark
> if I failed to put the proper indications in my advertisements.)

What if you don't do business in Turkmenistan? I fail to see why
registering your name in Turkmenistan should have any trademark
implications for companies outside the country.

> And I'd register in .com because that the cool place to be 

It won't always be the cool place to be.

> and it's a
> cheap and sure-fire way of keeping anybody else out -- I do have a duty to
> protect my mark wherever it appears and in whatever context. 

This is the key right here. Somehow IAHC has to get the message across
that the domain namespace is not like other contexts so that names do not
need to be "protected". Nobody can stop me from using the term "kleenex"
without the trademark symbol and nobody can stop me from using the term to
refer to any miscellaneous brand of paper tissue (even toilet paper) that
I might use to wipe my childrens' noses with. That's because not all of
life is a commercial venue. Somehow we have to get the message across that
the domain namespace is not a commercial venue but that portions of it can
be set aside for commercial rules to apply. But only portions.

> I'm also wondering about how a .tm would handle the existing (and future)
> situation in which the same mark is used, without confusion, in different
> areas of trade today.

I think you mean .marca not .tm. The .marca domain would be a sort of
database used to register and lookup trademarks using the DNS protocols. 
If you register coke.drinks.marca you don't get delegation of the domain.
Instead the .marca folks set up www.coke.drinks.marca to have your company
contact information and links to your real web page. If there are multiple
marks, i.e. Acme Restaurants and Acme Foodservices, then
www.acme.food.marca would have information and links for both companies.
Similarily www.food.marca would have an index and search engine for all
international trademarks in the food category and www.marca would have the
same for all trademarks in existence. If the trademark was national only
then it would be in a country subdomain, i.e. www.hooters.food.us.marca
The .MARCA domain would be operated by an entity like the INTA.

Some people might object to using this method of publishing a database but
I think that it is no different from the tpc.int database.

Michael Dillon                   -               Internet & ISP Consulting
Memra Software Inc.              -                  Fax: +1-604-546-3049
http://www.memra.com             -               E-mail: michael@memra.com