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Re: [ICANN-EU] ... and other candidates

On Tue, 22 Aug 2000, Christoph wrote:

[...]
> I had some first hand dealing with the IP mafia in the past, in its 
> incarnation German and European Patent office. I never saw such an
> appaling mix of burocratic incompetence, open arrogance of power
> and very obvious nepotism and corruption.

Hard words, but maybe right. If I want to check if a domain I like to
register does not violate, maybe, a Benelux
(Belgium-Netherlands-Luxembourg) trademark, I have to pay approx. DM
100 to check one name. One, not including possible different ways of
writing it. Bit expensive, isn't it?

This is the official governamental bureau. Oh, yes, the DM 100 are for a
slow lookup. A fast one is nearly 300. 
 
If we are all so worried about cybersquatters, it might be a good idea to
give people a chance to check public records for free. Now don't tell me
TM are not public records. Of course they are. Can be,
really: http://www.uspto.gov. 

In my next life I will be a TM-lawyer. As a punishment.

--
Marc Schneiders ------- Venster - http://www.venster.nl 
 marc@venster.nl - marc@bijt.net - marc@schneiders.org