joop a �crit:
>
> Regardless of the merits of the case.
> It strengthens the legal position of Domain Name holders, who can now at
> least call themselves owners without having to argue about it.
I don't think so, Joop. The position of the domain name holder
depends on the holder's contractual relationship with the
registrars, which apparently will be determined by ICANN. And ICANN
has, according to its recently published Registrar Accreditation
Policy, decided to make that relationship very tenuous and entirely
one of subservience. The holder's domain name can be taken away,
according to ICANN, more or less at the whim of the registrar, the
registry, or ICANN. The name may be property, but it's the property
of ICANN, and leased not to the registrant but to the registrar, who
acts in the name of and retains the prerogatives of the property
owner, ICANN.
> It settles the perennial argument with some registrars who would rather
> treat them as mere licensees, subject to whatever policy a registry can
> come up with.
It settles it by removng all rights from the registrants, so that
they no longer have any basis for argument, having no longer any
rights whatsoever.
> It will have consequences for registry policymaking: property must be
> treated with respect.
Registries, at least for the gTLDs, will no longer make policy; it
will be made by ICANN. Any respect adhering to domain names as a
result of their legal definition as property will accrue to ICANN,
in the first place, and in the second to the registrars accredited
by ICANN. The Registrar Acrreditation Policy makes this quite clear.
> It also strengthens the position of the DN owner against proposed WIPO
> regulation that would otherwise encourage rampant trespassing by TM
> interests.
On the contrary, as property belonging to ICANN, and transferred to
the registrars, the names will be subject to the policies of ICANN,
and if ICANN chooses to adopt the recommendations of WIPO, as it has
already done to a great extent in the Accreditation Policy, then
those are the policies that will apply to names, because they are
policies being made by the property owner - ICANN - and carried out
by ICANN's lieutenants, the registrars. Between the registrar and
the domain name holder, only the registrar will have its position
strengthened, as a result of the ICANN Accreditation Agreement,
which transfers some of ICANN's property rights to the registrar.
> Fwiw, I welcome this little bit of law-making .
Then you are either in league with the registrars, or a fool. I fear
it is the latter, since you have already evidenced your foolishness
on these lists by claiming that the majority of Internet users speak
English. Your judgement is impaired, and your arguments are without
foundation in logic, and are useless.
