Re: New TLDs and Registry charters

[Vince Wolodkin <wolodkin@digitalink.com>]

Knut Smaaland wrote:
> 
> At 15:10 10.12.96 -0500, Vince Wolodkin wrote:
> >John Young wrote:
> 
> and he wrote a lot more as well.
> 
> I'd like to comment a bit on some of your observations.
> 
> You say that among other things that the legal system within a country can
> cope with naming disputes resulting from trademark conflicts under a
> supposed .INT domain.
> 
> I can largely agree to that observation.
> 
> But where I lose track of your arguments or thinking or logic or whatever
> is when you introduce the notion of a treaty or government or whatever
> supranational animal which have to be brought into action whenever there
> is both a Saudi-Arabian grxPLC and a Samoaian grxPLC using their own name
> on each other turfs.
> 

Not really.  What I am getting at is this.  If there are no iTLDs, but
only country TLDs, then naming disputes will only exist between parties
that have the same home legal system.  grxPLC can exist in every country
on the planet without anyproblem because it will always exist within a
country TLD.  I think the rules for getting a .INT domain already block
the world at large from having one(if they don't they need to).

You mentioned some of the reasons governments might step in.  The one I
included was if a significant number of international disputes arise, or
if a large campaign contributor becomes involved in an international
dispute over the name space.  If we, on the other hand, "nationalize"
the name space by requiring companies to register under their home
country, any naming dispute they might have will be handled in their
home court system.

If someone in Saudi Arabia has a problem with someone's domain in Samoa,
then they will have to sue in the Samoan court.  One of the pressing
issues of having international TLDs is who will have authority to settle
legal disputes among domain holders.  If all TLDs are country oriented,
this will be left to the countries to decide individually.  Otherwise,
countries will end up having to agree(treaties/etc).

I think the IAHC should be looking to remove potential conflicts rather
than trying to create larger ones.

Vince Wolodkin