Diane,
> > Why, then, does it seem to accept the
> > prejudicial assumption that domain names cannot be dissociated
> > from trademarks? Internet commerce (and international harmony)
> > will develop a lot easier when this absurdity is disposed of.
>
> How would this be accomplished, Kerry? What is your policy
> recommendation? From my perspective, ICANN hasn't accepted anything
> on this point yet; it is still receiving data. The WIPO proposal is
> one policy iniative. Are you suggesting an engineering solution?
Lets call it _technical, in keeping with ICANNs mandate ;-) :
if 2LDs are in danger of 'confusion' with trademarks, there is for
sure no reason why any and every conceivable name needs to be
allowed in the DNS. Put a financial attractor to 'meaningless' terms
-- along the lines of Pogo's tot: mgvbryx, for instance, or a scale of
surcharges according to the probability of contention.
Otherwise, it looks to me the board has two choices: either it
involves itself in _governance, e.g. arbitration; or it has a namebase
full of 'suspended' names while conflicts are thrashed out in a court
system that is overloaded to start with. Either way is not only
expensive, but undermines the system it is intended to promote.
ICANN is in a unique position of *potential authority; if there was an
elegant (or even workable) means of reconciling names-as-property
with names-as-free-speech, Im sure even WIPO would accept an
Icannic declaration as the last word. Failing that, however, the
Board's task is to find a *credible position that it can hold in the
face of the inevitable accusations and infighting and lobbying that
will accompany absolutely any decision based on the
*assumption* that domain names are indeed names.
Call em pointers, or runes or strings or cabells, whatever, but
*policy has one main function: to keep an administration out of the
line of fire. If some interested party (e.g TMholder) wants to claim
that one of these technical dinguses is 'confusing' (i.e. *looks like*
their mark), they can take their contest wherever they like, but it
shouldnt have anything to do with running the internet.
If pressed, I would also say the same goes for new 1LDs. .THIS
and .THAT only perpetuate the simplistic view that things with Ascii
characters in them are somehow magical. It may have worked for
Postel's notebook, but it clearly does not scale worth a *$%^#.
kerry
