Einar Stefferud wrote:
>Well, it is very simple! More TLDs make it easier for parties to
>share the use of given SLD names, each under a distinctly different
>TLD, so the faster we add new gTLDS, the faster we will solve the
>conflict problems, and conversely, the slower we go the slower we
>solve the conflict problems.
>
>Because the lack of gTLD names is THE CORE PROBLEM!
I think the core problem (no puns intended) is that the trademark owners
want to extrude a name identification system that is context-sensitive and
geographically-specific onto an e-system that is neither.
We have no proof that trademark owners will honor gTLDs as a qualifier any
more than they honor the Lanham Act's requirement that, to prove a cause of
action for infringement there must be a) commercial use and b) confusion as
to the source of goods or services. So the core problem is the trademark
owner's insistence that a domain name (absent contextual use) = source (of
goods or services).
In traditional commerce, identical marks can co-exist so long as they are
used in different market channels. I've often wondered why TMOs with
identical marks aren't battling amongst each other for priority rights to
specific, desirable domain names. If they promote the notion that a
trademark registration entitles the owner to exclusive worldwide rights to
a name, that entitlement would accrue to all those who share the same mark.
The answer, presumably, is to invoke first come, first served when it
suits their needs but ignore the substance of RFC 1591 when it doesn't.
So Nina Footwear, with a trademark registration for the Nina name applied
to footwear and handbags, claims it has priority rights to nina.com over a
woman using it as her stage name. If Nina Footwear prevails in this
lawsuit, it would be to the exclusion of other idential trademark owners,
say, Nina Perfume, who may share an identical trademark.
How I wish that the senior owner of a trademark would take an identical
trademark owner to court claiming priority rights to an identical mark used
as a domain name. Surely this would expose the fallacious thinking that has
caused so much grief for so many legitimate domain registrants.
Ellen Rony Co-author
The Domain Name Handbook http://www.domainhandbook.com
============================ // ================================
ISBN 0879305150 *=" ____ / +1 (415) 435-5010
[EMAIL PROTECTED] \ ) Tiburon, CA
On the Internet, // \\ no one knows you're a dog
