Write a post asking for working together to harmonize, and they reply with
"drop dead."
I wrote:
>>The conflict can be ameliorated at least through through various tweakings
>>of both the DNS and the TM system (and in the behavior of DN and TM
>>owners).
>
Mr. Feld replied:
>Again, this is based on the idea that there is a conflict which must be
modified by making adjustments on all sides. I argue that this is a flawed
understanding. Rather, the existence of the DNS is a fact to which
trademark law must accomodate itself, as it did to such diverse things as
telephone numbers and other identifiers.
If I said that the victims of "reverse DN highjacking" that DN owners
should accomodate themselves to the way things are, Mr. Feld would respond
how?
If there were several thousand instances in three years of TM owners
complaining to phone companies regarding trademark conflicts as to how
1-800 numbers were allocated, the situations would be analogous (I am not
referring to conflicts as to the scarcity of desired 1-800 numbers). I
doubt there have been more than five reported cases regarding the trademark
use of telephone numbers in the past ten years. There are five reported
cases regarding DNs and TMs a month these days.
The collision with the pre-existing body of rights known as trademark
rights is an externality of the business of selling domain names. The DNS
can take responsibility for this externality and work to minimize the
externality - or they are, to put the best face on it, bad citizens.
TM owners are not interested in rigging the DNSO to gain some type of
majority (einar's hypo aside). They are in this debate because of the f***
you tone of Mr. Feld's post. (if my expurgated term offends, I apologize
- but it is the essence of Mr. Feld's message).
"As an aside, I will add that TM law seems to be adjusting just fine, with
no need for any raidcal adjustments on anyone's part."
Which conclusion can only be reached by ignoring the totality of the TM/DN
conflict over the past few years. Note the contradictory tone - there is
no problem - accomodate yourself to the problem.
