[icann-eu] Froomkin on UDRP at DNSO NC meeting

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

At today's DNSO names council meeting, Prof. Froomkin has given an
excellent talk on some issues concerning UDRP.  I'd suggest that
those of you who are interested in this issue should have a look at
the video and audio archive of the meeting - he has made some
important points which didn't make it to the Scribe's notes, I
think, and the talk is really worth the effort.

Some points (I'm partially relying on my own memory, partially on
the Scribe's notes):

- Intellectual property rights aren't limited to trademark owners'
  interests.

- There are bounds on intellectual property and trademarks, such as
  free speech, non-trademark rights, and the like.

- The existing UDRP should be considered an absolute upper bound for
  the possible IP protection.

- New TLDs with limited scope don't need a full UDRP.  In
  particular, classical cybersquatting cannot occur in TLDs where
  the trademark holder would not be entitled to register a domain,
  since the domain can't be sold.

  Froomkin suggested that only those who are themselves eligible for
  a domain in a new TLD should be able to participate in disputes
  about domains in these TLDs.

I hope I didn't miss or misrepresent too much of the talk.

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