[ga] names and acronyms of IGOs

[DannyYounger@cs.com]

Thomas, 

Having noted your comments on the ALAC discussion list with respect to names 
and acronyms of IGOs, I would draw your attention to an earlier submission on 
this same subject (June 15, 2001) tendered by the Non-Commercial Constituency 
cited at http://wipo2.wipo.int/process2/rfc/rfc3/comments/msg00094.html  

Excerpt:

B. WIPO’s Proposals to Ban the Use of the Names and Acronyms of International 
Governmental Organizations is Contrary to Law and Public Policy. 

In the WIPO2 proposals, WIPO proposes banning the registration and use of 
International Governmental Organizations (IGOs) as names and acronyms in 
existing and future gTLDs: 

123. It is recommended that the names of IGOs protected under the Paris 
Convention and the TRIPS Agreement should be excluded from registration in 
all existing open gTLDs, as well as in all new gTLDs.

This extraordinary proposal means that an IGO such as the World Health 
Organization would have a superior right to the common three letter 
combination, WHO, over any other user. Such a scope of protection exceeds any 
found under existing law, and invades clearly protected areas of 
noncommercial use. 

In the world today, the World Health Organization cannot stop the dynamic use 
of "who" in common speech whether by a rock group (The WHO), by reporters 
(Who? What? Where? When? Why?), by science fiction fans (Dr. Who), or by 
children (Horton Hears a Who, by Dr. Suess). Further, these real world uses 
should extend seamlessly unto the Internet and allow current and future users 
to express these ideas in domain names and websites. Thus, we envision 
www.who.rock, www.who.writing, www.who.scifi, and www.who.suess in future 
gTLDs. These are legitimate users, not uses in bad faith. 

Similarly, the Internet Chamber of Commerce (www.icc.org), peacefully 
coexists with the International Computing Centre (also ICC). That’s a fact of 
language and its normal and natural redundancies, not any proof of bad faith. 

Action and Alternatives for IGOs 

Are there alternatives? Of course! At the WIPO Consultation in Washington DC 
on May 29, 2001, the U.S. Small Business Administration noted the use of 
"SBA" in many other instances. See for example, Southern Bakers Association 
at www.sba.org, and Smith, Bucklin & Associates at www.sba.com. Rather than 
seeing such use as bad faith, the SBA attorneys applauded it as part of the 
robust nature of language and the Internet. They assured WIPO that other uses 
of "sba" online did not keep the public from finding the official Small 
Business Administration website at WWW.SBA.GOV. 

As an alternative to the WIPO2 proposals, SBA attorneys urged WIPO and IGOs 
to use the trump card handed to them by the current domain name system -- the 
.INT international top level domain. This top level domain exists expressly 
for the United Nations and its supporting organizations, including IGOs. SBA 
attorneys stated that the lack of knowledge about the .INT domain name can be 
easily solved -- by using it! They said that the more UN organizations 
register their names and acronyms under .INT, the faster the public will know 
to find them there. 

The Noncommercial Community supports the US Small Business Administration 
proposal that IGOs use .INT and not force massive exclusions under gTLDs that 
will create scarcity and eliminate normal and good faith use. As part of its 
final report to ICANN, we urge WIPO to carefully review the domain name 
registrations allowed under .INT, and the broad scope of IGOs and other 
United Nations sub-groups. WIPO should propose to ICANN the expansion of 
the.INT definition, to include the full range of names and acronyms to 
accommodate the array of United Nations activity on the Internet today.

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