Re: [IFWP] [Fwd: The Froomkin Dissent]

[A. Michael Froomkin (WIPO related mail)]

Dan Steinberg wrote:

> From: "Harold Feld" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

> WIPO waited until after it had expanded the scope of the study beyond cyberpiracy to 
>a uniform dispute system before appointing a public interest advocate.  WIPO 
>appointed an academic, rather than a representative from an advocacy

This delay did indeed cause me problems and may have reduced my effectiveness.  On the 
other hand, it did allow me to come in and see RFC 3 with a fresh mind..

> organization.  WIPO carefully selected someone who had never taken a public, 
>controversial position and whose involvement until that point had primarily been in 
>the nature of a recorder.

Two more comments:
1) Appointing an academic is not, IMHO, a Bad Thing as a matter of principle.  We are 
not inevitably spineless wimps, despite what you see in the movies, and once we have 
tenure we are pretty free to say what we like.   But then, I would say that.

2) Harold is actually generous about my prior involvement in TM/DNS issues.  Although 
I have a track record on internet issues such as crypto, e-cash, e-commerce and the 
like, and have written about civil liberties aspects of the Internet in those contexts 
(see http://www.law.tm), I had almost no trademark law background, and my direct 
personal involvement with DNS politics consisted of attending one meeting of the IFWP 
(the first one, in Reston).  That was enough for me, and I was ready to
go back to writing about Habermas and the Internet.

OTOH, I was fortunate in some ways.  I was an international arbitration lawyer before 
I entered teaching.  I have some familiarity with European ways of dealing with legal 
issues, as I practiced for almost 3 years in London (in a US firm), and I am married 
to a British lawyer whose specialties include EU law.  I'd been thinking about 
Internet governance for some time.  Plus I have the good fortune to be on the panel 
supervising Craig Simon's Ph.D. dissertation -- he's the REAL "recorder"
here.  I benefited greatly from reading his work in progress.  I hope he finishes it 
soon (are you there, Craig?  Go back to work.)

When my friends at CDT called me and said did I want to be considered for the job, I 
was hesitant since I was not in any sense a card-carrying member of the relevant 
interest groups, knew little TM law, and indeed barely knew the key players.  I 
accepted because my friends persuaded me that WIPO would not select any of the leading 
figures.  .

--
A. Michael Froomkin      WIPO-related matters: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Professor of Law             "It's warm here"
U. Miami School of Law ,  P.O. Box 248087
Coral Gables, FL 33124,  USA
+1 (305) 284-4285  |  +1 (305) 284-6506 (fax)  |  http://www.law.tm