Re: .COM TLD, DNS and the English Language

[Vince Wolodkin <wolodkin@digitalink.com>]

Carl Oppedahl wrote:
> 
> At 03:33 PM 12/10/96 -0500, Vince Wolodkin wrote:
> 
> >I agree, my main thrust is to move these issues into each country and
> >remove them from the international scene.  I agree that a .TM or some
> >other schema may be appropriate, but I believe it to be appropriate only
> >if it is placed UNDER each ISO country TLD.  International TLD's will
> >only cause international disputes.  International disputes have no
> >suitable method to be resolved.  Get enough unsatisfactorily resolved
> >international issues and governments will get involved.
> >
> >Doesn't it make sense to eliminate iTLDs rather than to create them?
> >Doesn't it make sense to move disputes to local jurisdictions where they
> >can be handled without international agreements?
> 
> Okay, help me out here.  A URL is a URL, right?  It seems to me that
> <http://www.exxon.ch> would annoy Exxon just as much as
> <http://www.exxon.com>.  I can't see how placing a domain name under an ISO
> country TLD reduces the harm or the annoyance.  In either case the web site
> operator, if not authorized by Exxon, is trading off of Exxon's good name,
> passing off his work as Exxon's.
> 
> Or, to put it differently, a web site is worldwide in its scope and its
> availability, right?  Suppose a US-only company, call it American Pride Flag
> company, uses the acronym APF.   And suppose the APF initials are incredibly
> well known all over the US, and is registered with the US Trademark Office.
> 
> Now suppose some company that is located outside of the US sets up a
> parasite web site, selling counterfeit flags made to look like the flags
> made by APF.  And their web address is ... well, it doesn't matter what it
> is.  <http://www.apf.com.ca>, maybe.  Well, that web site is accessable to
> every person in the US who has access to the Internet.  It is accessable to
> every person in the US who has access to COM domains.  To the extent that
> the site presents a trademark problem, it is the same (so far as I can tell)
> as if the site had had a URL of <http://www.apf.com>.
> 
> I can't see how tacking a little old ".ca" at the end of the URL makes the
> trademark infringement go away.

I am not saying the trademark infringement goes away.  I am saying that,
in terms of fighting infringement(and other disputes), the internet
would become much more analgous with other industries.  Would you agree?

Vince Wolodkin