Re: [wg-b] Preliminary Questions

[Milton Mueller <mueller@syr.edu>]

d3nnis wrote:

> >Domain names are not trademarks.  They have no trademark status, and they
> >are not protected by the existing Famous Marks treaties.

Harald Tveit Alvestrand wrote:

> Domain names have been considered to constitute infringement upon both
> Famous Marks and Trademarks. See court cases referred to earlier on the list.

Dennis's point stands. The mere fact that domain names *can* infringe upon a famous
(or other) mark does not mean that famous mark holders enjoy protection against the
registration of a domain name. That is an issue of fact, to be decided by a
court--not a registry, a registrar, ICANN, or one of its Working Groups.

> >We would be on far more solid ground by asking all signatories to PARIS
> >and TRIPS to submit their famous marks lists to us, and asking registries to do
> a name
> >check and issue a trademark "encroachment" warning.

This is unacceptable--unless registries voluntarily offer to do this and/or are
compensated for it. Trademark holders are economically responsible for the cost of
policing their marks. No law that I know of gives trademark holders the right to
impose those costs upon other businesses.

--
m i l t o n   m u e l l e r // m u e l l e r @ s y r . e d u
syracuse university          http://istweb.syr.edu/~mueller/