Re: [ICANN-EU] Trademark Lobby on AMM's Regierungserklärung

[Thomas Roessler <roessler@does-not-exist.org>]

On 2000-11-09 10:26:22 +0100, Alexander Svensson quotes Horst
Prießnitz (thanks!):

>   According to Prießnitz, the protection of trademarks works well
> for a self-organized system like the Internet. Despite all
> freedom of communication and decentral structure, the Internet
> only works because of the hierarchical name space administration.
> Names are important goods, and it is not comprehensible why
> someone should be allowed to register other peoples' names and
> trademarks.

While this may sound nice, Prießnitz forgets that, with domain
names, the rather convoluted trademark name space would have to be
mapped onto a practically flat namespace (.com, .net, .org, .de
doesn't give you enough hierarchy to solve problems).

In real life, and trademark namespace, regional ABC Bank from
Cologne and regional ABC Bank from Berlin didn't have a problem for
50-100 years or so, and had trademark rights of their own.  When
they tried to register abc-bank.de, there was a clash.  That's the
kind of challenge the net poses, and to which traditional trademark
law does not give an acceptable answer.  (Other cases, such as the
use of trademarks in "speech-like" domain names, or clashes between
trademarks and personal names where - traditionally - personal names
have priority, can easily be found.)

-- 
Thomas Roessler                         <roessler@does-not-exist.org>