Re: [ICANN-EU] The real challenge for all of us as candidates

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

On 2000-08-22 02:29:59 +0200, Christoph wrote:

> I think one of the main goals of a sensible DNS reform should be
> making clear that trademark law can not and should not be applied
> to host names.

Sorry, but you are obviously dreaming.

Trademark law _has_ _been_ successfully applied to internet domains,
and it will be in the future.  You can like it or not, but changing
this would require some 200 national states to change their
legislation in favor of - what?  What pressure group, what industry
interest?  Forget it.

(Actually, for this very reason, the idea that chartered gTLDs may
help to avoid conflicts most likely won't work.)


The only thing you can hope for is that some other mechanism is
invented which provides (1) direct addressing, (2) catchy company
names, logos, and commercials, and (3) is simpler to use, and that
litigation concentrates on that scheme, like in Deutsche Telekom
sues Mobilcomm for entering the catchphrase "billiger als Telekom"
(cheaper than Telekom) into the directory system.  Mobilcomm would
most likely sue back for "Mogelcom" (Mogelcom can roughly be
translated as cheat-com).

For reference, consider the past litigation about html META tags and
their abuse to get search engines onto sites.

However, I doubt that general directory services will be accepted by
the corporate world, as long as domains and/or lawyers are
available. Directory services lack catchiness, and the highly
appreciated high-tech sex-appeal from best-breed multimedia web
presence (including Shockwave Flashs and ActiveX) with a highly
recognized brand identity, brought to your web address by Network
Solutions (ups).  (Oh, and BTW, don't forget that extra bonus pack
including .org and .net half price when bought along with .com.)

To put it into more normal language: As long as I actually can
remember domain names, and as long as domain name guessing has a
high success rate, there will be litigation and dispute about domain
names.  And as long as this happens, additional gTLDs won't avoid
any litigation, since everyone is likely to go for every gTLD.

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