As some of you may know, the trademark search firms now do searches
on domain names as well. Enforcement of TLDs would put more duties on
the owner of the trademark registration to police that whole scene, and would
generate lots of business for the search firms. However, that does not bother
me in the slightest: registration of a trademark amounts to a restraint on the
use of the term, logo or whatever contrary to First Amendment principles --
a scenario that is justified only by virtue of the mark's utility in
identifying
the source of particular goods or services, for legitimate business reasons
under the Commerce Clause, of avoiding consumer confusion.
The trademark owner would have to look at the TLD and judge whether or not
the usage would cause consumer confusion -- if it would, fire off a letter;
if it
would not, shut up and go home. That would be a vast improvement over the
current situation when too many trademark owners have fired off letters to
the likes of Veronica, when the domain name is sought because of its high
marketing value in a system wherein the supply is short and the demand is
high, and artificial value has been attached to domain names through the
introduction of the NSI monopolistic policies.
Bill Lovell
