Re: Thread 2: 60-day issue

[Carl Oppedahl <carl@oppedahl.com>]

At 05:58 PM 12/24/96 -0800, Simon Higgs wrote:

>At 2:25 PM -0600 12/24/96, Steve Peterson wrote:
>
>Well if that's the case the registry must do due diligence with a
>trademark search and notify all likely participents. Watch that idea
>get shot down instantly.
>
>> I think you have to give the trademark owner a little time to review the
>> application before the domain is turned on.  It's one thing to keep a
>> domain from being turned on;  another to have an existing, active domain
>> turned off.  It should be harder to convince a court to do the latter.  In
>> order to level the playing field there needs to be a short period at the
>> beginning where you're not disrupting existing activity if you shut off a
>> domain.

I haven't seen anybody suggest that the domain name registration authority
should be obligated to screen each domain name application for trademark
conflicts.  Since each domain name on the Internet is accessible at web
browsers in all the countries of the world, this would require the domain
name registration authority to search all the trademarks in the 180 or so
countries that have trademark systems.  While it's possible to search
online for a dozen or so countries, for most of those countries it's not
online.  So we are talking about a paper search in 150 or so trademark
offices each time somone signs up for a domain name.  That would be
unreasonable, I suggest.

A federal judge in the Panavision case ruled recently that NSI is under no
general duty to screen domain names.