Craig,
{ The Internet facilitates all
{ sorts of abuse and indirection, making it far too easy for TM holders to
{ get ripped off by wicked opportunists. Those same abusers ultimately
{ mislead consumers and average folks. Regular people certainly deserve
{ some protection.
{
{ To the extent domain name strings represent intellectual property, so do
{ trademarks...
Its only the trademark interests which have proclaimed DN strings to be
intellectual property, over and above its original use as a convenience
to the commonality of net-users. Giving them *as a class* any special
representation in the DNS is to foretell the day we get to pay for the
privilege of driving on the right side of the road (or the left, as the
case may presently be - obviously that'll be a scase for WIPO!)
Seriously, by any concept of 'intellectual property,' the cybersquatters
are in *exactly* the same business as the TM holders: trying to
capitalize on the alphabet. If the net cant handle that, it would be
better if ICANN proclaims forthwith that all domain names will be
characterized in Cyrillic.
kerry
