As the owner of a large trademark portfolio Saint-Gobain Corporation wishes to express its support for a mechanism, such as the Sunrise Plus Twenty proposal, which will minimize the use of new TLD's to infringe upon trademark rights.
In the past Saint-Gobain has had numerous occasions where it's trademarks where registered as domain names, in many instances by "cybersquatters", and it became difficult and even impossible to gain the rights back. We are opposing the practice of cybersquatting should not be allowed and that trademarks owners rights should be strengthened.
It is our opinion that the Sunrise Plus Twenty proposal would at least give trademark owners an opportunity to obtain domain names for registered trademarks before the general public can apply for them.
Sincerely,
Otto Lies
Law Department, Intellectual Property
SAINT-GOBAIN CORPORATION
FAX: 508-795-2653 TEL: 508-795-2988