Re: The trademark issue

[Paul Ezra Kautz <pek@iu.big-island.va.us>]

Gilles LERAT:

>This solution is a good approach. However, I feel strongly that, it will not
>completely eliminate the problem, as most companies will want to *secure*
>their names in as many iTLDs as possible.

Which is more just: restricting registration by organizations across
TLDs, or allowing larger companies to block smaller ones (or slower
ones) with the same name from getting a reasonable domain?

If Ibex Beatnik Mortuary still can't get an "ibm" second-level domain
anywhere because International Business Machines had to look out for its 
trademark interests, doesn't it defeat one of the purposes of opening
up the TLD space?

On the other hand, if we do attempt to restrict organizations to
just one second-level domain each, how are we going to investigate?
In free-market TLD situation, this is nigh impossible, as each TLD
is managed separately. In a shared situation, investigation is
more feasible - but by whom? One of the strengths of the net now
is that there is no enforcement agency. Do we want a little
ISOC FBI running around?

>To prevent multiple registrations, we would need to find a way to ensure
>that companies already registered under .COM (or somewhere else) see no
>interest at registering in newly created iTLDs.

How? Companies have strange interests (see Proctor and Gamble, Kraft, etc).

>Maybe (it is just a suggestion), the way the IAHC could handle the trademark
>issue is by emphasizing on the fact that registering a domain name does not
>give a person (or a company) any legal rights over that name.

Companies will still want to protect themselves from whatever imposters
they imagine - even if they can sue the imposters like anywhere else.

Paul Kautz