A reply to Carl's analysis is posted below...
Leo Smith wrote...
: >If all 800,000 .com URL registrations had instead been subjected to the 60
: >day wait, those same 799,800 URL users that had no problem without the wait
: >would still have no problem if the wait had been imposed.
: >The only URL users who MAY (but not necessarily WILL) benefit from the 60
: >day wait are a percentage of the 200 URL users (out of 800,000 total users)
: >who, without the wait ended up in a trademark dispute, but with the wait,
: >might have avoided a dispute. The percentage of URL users in trademark
: >disputes is such a minuscule part of the total...less than ONE TWENTIETH OF
: >ONE PERCENT!
:
To which Carl made the following analogy...
: Sorry, but you are committing that common fallacy of using hindsight. It's
: a bit like talking about the X number of people who went from age 21 to age
: 65 without getting mugged -- in retrospect they "had no problem" with
: getting mugged. But back when they were 21 they didn't know yet if they
: would be mugged in the subsequent 44 years. If one were to be persuaded by : your logic, the only people who benefit from car insurance are those who : turn out to have had car accidents. But that makes sense only in retrospect. : The fact is that those who sign up for car insurance don't know yet if they : are going to be in a car accident. Thus they benefit from : some level of peace of mind simply due to having : the insurance. (emphasis mine)
To which Leo Smith replies:
Carl...Let's take a close look at your car insurance analogy. It is agreed that one benefit of car insurance is peace of mind for the insured, and the same peace of mind may be present in the minds of some URL users if they had protection against trademark infringement claims. In most states, automobile owners are required by statute to carry liability insurance. While it can be argued that having liability insurance offers peace of mind to the car owner, the statutory obligation to carry it is there to protect the financial interests of the victim in an automobile collision. So too here, the obligatory nature of the 60 day wait is there to protect the financial interests of the victim of a trademark "collision", which usually is the trademark rights holder who suffers an infringement.
How do you respond to the following: Offer Freedom to Choose...For those URL users about to register, they would be presented with an insurance OPTION...they could register a domain name instantly, and accepting a risk of one twentieth of one percent that they would later become involved in a trademark dispute, OR, in the alternative, they could opt for the 60 day wait, in which case any action taken against them by a trademark rights after the 60 day period had passed would be substantially weakened.
Do you feel comfortable allowing the individual user to decide whether they wish to A) take advantage of the protections offered by the wait, or B) decline the protections offered by the wait and instead assume the additional risks of registering withou a wait. Freedom to choose to be insured or uninsured! Is that a freedom you could endorse?