PAB CNN regarding WIPO announcement.

["Robert F. Connelly" <rconnell@psi-japan.com>]

Dear Colleagues:

Thank you, Amar, for posting the CNN item.  I've just sent the following to
the same lists to which I sent the letter of congratulations from WIPO to CORE.

BobC

Further to my prior posting of the letter of congratulations from WIPO to
CORE, here is an item on the subject from CNN:

	http://cnn.com/TECH/computing/9905/03/cybersquatting.ap/

Interestingly, in one of their graphics, CNN has confused .com with .edu
and .gov;-}

Here's the text portion:

                  U.N. panel recommends steps
                  to ban Internet domain name
                  abuse 

                  May 3, 1999
                  Web posted at: 2:35 p.m. EDT (1835 GMT)

                  NEW YORK (AP) -- A United Nations
                  organization has recommended steps to
                  effectively ban speculating and pirating of
                  Internet addresses, a practice known as
                  cybersquatting. 

                  The recommendations by the World
                  Intellectual Property Organization mark the first effort
by an official
                  governing body to set international rules for registering
Internet domain
                  names. 

                  The WIPO also outlined provisions that could allow owners of
                  internationally known trademarks the ability to claim
first rights to Internet
                  domains bearing their names, the New York Times reported
Monday. 

                  The report was issued Friday to the Internet Corporation
for Assigned
                  Names and Numbers, an international nonprofit
organization that will
                  oversee the Internet's addressing system. ICANN is
opening the business of
                  registering domain names to competition and plans to
expand the number of
                  so-called top level domains beyond the current .com, .net
and .org. 

                  The WIPO report recommends the ICANN require anyone who
registers a
                  domain name to first sign a contract that would bar
"abusive" registration
                  practices, defined as registering names that are
identical or misleadingly
                  similar to a trade or service mark. 

                  The contract would also bar selling, renting or otherwise
transferring the
                  domain name to the owner of the trade or service mark, or
to a competitor
                  of the owner of the trade or service mark. 

                  If cybersquatters were deemed to break the rules
following a mandatory
                  arbitration process, they could lose their domain names
and be required to
                  pay the bill for resolving the disputes, the Times reported. 

                  Cases between companies or people with similar names or
claims to the
                  same domain would go either to voluntary arbitration or
to court. 

                  Under the proposed rules, ICANN would establish a list of
protected
                  "famous or well-known marks" that would not be available
for registration to
                  the average Internet user.