At 11:13 AM 2/13/99 -0800, Bill Lovell wrote:
>At 01:35 AM 2/13/99 -0800, you wrote:
>
>>
>>Martin makes a really good case for enforcing TLD charters. NSI has allowed
>>them to erode simply because the TLD space has been frozen. Do you think
>>enforced TLD charters would help in reducing this trademark pressure?
>>
>Not being perfectly certain of the jargon being used here, if you mean by the
>TLD charter being enforced that a .com has to be commercial, a .org has to
>be a nonprofit, etc., then enforcing them would be a small step in the right
>direction. The courts have now learned to distinguish what comes after the
>/ from what comes before the . , and trademark infringement cases are
>always decided by going through a laundry list of relevant factors (which
>unfortunately vary from one circuit to the next), so giving the court one more
>factor upon which to base a distinction certainly wouldn't hurt. This is no
>panacea, since we've seen xyz.com go after xyz.org, but it would be a
>step in the right direction.
If I may re-phrase, to make sure I understand your position, an enforced
TLD charter may actually help the trademark defense of an SLD, provided
that it is truly non-infringing in the first place. The way I read your
reply, you are essentially in agreement with Martin. The first question I
would ask is what it would take to get the courts to recognize this
distinctive mark (TLD) as a valid distinctive mark?
Now lets hypothesize further that we have such a charter system and it is
being enforced. What becomes of the vulnerability of the TLD registry?
Would a failure to enforce such a charter be a source of legal complaint
against them? I am considering a few scenarios here (all permutations
listed here for completeness);
1) An infringing for-profit domain in a non-profit TLD (ORG)?
2) An NON-infringing for-profit domain in a non-profit TLD (ORG)?
3) An infringing for-profit domain in a for-profit TLD (COM)?
4) An NON-infringing for-profit domain in a for-profit TLD (COM)?
What I am really trying to find out is the level of "due-diligence" that
would be required of the TLD registry.
___________________________________________________
Roeland M.J. Meyer -
e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Internet phone: hawk.lvrmr.mhsc.com
Personal web pages: http://staff.mhsc.com/~rmeyer
Company web-site: http://www.mhsc.com
___________________________________________________
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