Folks, we almost stumbeled into a nasty but (barley) predictable tarpit... --daveUnder ``User-friendly directory'', the IAHC writes
It may also be found desirable to establish a single directory which covers all of the trademark-specific domain name spaces (including country code spaces and the international space), and perhaps even to open the directory to trademark owners who have domain names in other TLDs but who wish to be listed in the trademark-domain name directory.
As noted in another message, a ``friendly'' directory which attempts to do a prefix search on multiple .tm.XX and .tm.int domains for, say ``american'', will collect a a cross-section of multiple domains, so that american airlines will will appear adjacent to american trucklines, american standard plumbing and the like.
Depending on the presentation, such a friendly navigation tool may be a finely-tuned instrument for finding a good or service provider, or an invitation to companies to take exception to the whole IAHC process...
Imagine the unhappyness of the president of American Standard if he were to try to find his company in a friendly directory and was presented with a list of all the other companies who his company was easily confused with.
Even a reasonably designed page of ``standards'' with logos would be an encitement to call the corporate counsel to see what could be done to distinguish their standard from everyone else with a similar name.
And if one were to add numeric distingusihing tags to the page, I think I can guarantee real anger at your rating of his company.
Here's a tiny example in html:
| Name | Web Page |
|---|---|
| American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) | http://aila.org/ |
| American Driver Leasing | http://americandriver.com/ |
| American Football in Hamburg | http://football.hh.adviser.com/ |
| American Executive Travel | http://aetravel.com/ |
| American Overseas Air Freight, Inc | http://americanoverseas.com/ |
| American Red Cross - Walker County (GA) Chapter | http://findit-chattanooga.com/ |
| American Mobile Nurses | http://amn.travelnurse.com/ |
| American Trust | http://americantrust.com/ |
| American MultiMedia | http://ammultimedia.com/ |
| American Golf | http://americangolf.com/ |
| Americlean Services Corporation | http://americlean.com/ |
| American Quaternary Association | http://cc.usu.edu/~DKaufman/AMQUA.html |
| American University | http://cage.cas.american.edu/ |
| American Auto-Site | http://auto-site.com/ |
| American Leasing | http://americanleasing.com/ |
| American Martial Arts Supply | http://hand-crafted.com/ - |
| American Numismatic Association | http://hera.csdco.com |
| American Geological Institute | http://jei.umd.edu/ |
I would strongly urge the IAHC to either insert wording to encourage accepted trademark categorization and to encourage strongly use of such in searching.
I note that thie exactly what canada 411 (http://canada411.sympatico.ca/english/business.html) finds it necessary to do, with geographic breakdowns to province, city and town.
I'll suggest:
User-friendly directory
It appears that a domain name in a trademark-specific domain space would have to have an element, such as a recognized trademark category and optionally a random number tag, to accommodate the required criterion that a unique domain name containing their trademark should be available to every trademark owner, even if there are many different owners of the identical trademark.
Since such a domain name may not be particularly user-friendly, IAHC recommends that each trademark-specific domain name space should be accompanied by an on-line, user-friendly directory, which would allow a user who enters a trademark to easily find the associated web page, or a page of all services in the category. The user-friendliness of such a directory could be enhanced by including the associated logo in the directory.
It may also be found desirable to establish a single directory which covers all of the trademark-specific domain name spaces (including country code spaces and the international space), and perhaps even to open the directory to trademark owners who have domain names in other TLDs but who wish to be listed in the trademark-domain name directory.
It is noted that this directory would need a layered structure to be usable to a user, possibly including any or all of continent, country, linguistic category or trade category.
Respectfully submitted,
David Collier-Brown