Re: Exclusive License

[werner@axone.ch (Werner Staub)]

David, 

>  If I'm a lawyer, and register my trade name in .law, would
> I not object strongly to someone registering the same name 
> in .legal?

Sure, if the .law and .legal domain names turned out to
be similar. 

But that is _highly_ unlikely. Domain names inevitably 
develop their own characteristics, either as a matter 
of policy or just because that is a law of nature. 

Competitors never compete on an equal-to-equal basis. 
They always try to be different, or use the fact that 
they already are. Just what exactly they do to be 
different depends on which of their - intended or 
accidental - characteristics prove successful.

For .law and .legal this may mean, for instance, that 
.law manages to get bigger law firms wheras .legal 
ends up registering individual lawyers and publishers 
of legal litterature. 

Or, more logically still, one registry will subject its 
domain to yet_another_exclusive_contract: a deal 
with a professional association. Associations are 
typically vested with some degree of self-regulatory 
powers. It would seem obvious that association demand 
control over the domain in exchange for the marketing 
leverage it provides.

Whatever the ultimate (and most probably monopolistic) 
result, it is certainly a good thing if a a potential
challenger is around.

In other words, we need (and we get) is a blend of 
monopoly and competition. That is nothing new: it is 
precisely brands are about. And a top level domain is 
a brand of brands.


Regards,

Werner
-- 
Email: werner@axone.ch 
Tel +41 22 8200074 Fax +41 22 8200073
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