ICANNWatch | ICANN Sticks Up for TM Holders

ICANN Sticks Up for TM Holders
posted by michael on Friday May 06 2005, @04:34AM

Fergie writes "It turns out that not all news posted here is bad news. Larry Seltzer (eWeek, posted here on Yahoo! News) writes that:

Did you ever wonder what happens to those domains, like [BigCompanyname]sucks.com, that some guy registers to criticize BigCompany? Turns out there's a procedure for these things.
I've given ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) a hard time in the past, but there are certainly positive aspects to its Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy. Perhaps it wasn't designed for every problem involving domain names, but it deals effectively with the ones it's designed for."

[Editor's note: The designers of the UDRP -- I was one of them -- all agreed the UDRP shouldn't apply to "sucks" sites since they were not trademark infringements but in fact legitimate criticism. The arbitrators in the UDRP have chosen instead to almost randomly find that some sucks sites should be closed. Insofar as they do this to people domiciled in nations which would reach that result in a national court (e.g. Belgium), I don't have a problem with that. But that's not the result you would get in the US, and it uses trademark law in a manner not consistent with US First Amendment values. So in fact it's not a feature -- it's a bug. Unless of course you are a large corporation trying to shut down your critics. Then it's "good news" indeed. -mf]

Update: It has been pointed out to me that the UDRP decision in National Alliance for the Mentally Ill Contra Costa v. Mary Rae Fouts reviews the relevant UDRP legislative history and previous cases -- and supports my statement above. -mf

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"The designers of the UDRP -- I was one of them"
by Anonymous on Friday May 06 2005, @06:32AM (#15121)

"The designers of the UDRP -- I was one of them"

How embarassing. That would be like saying you
used to work for ICANN. (or be in their employ)

Can you imagine interviewing someone who used to
be employed by ICANN ?

Q. What were your duties at ICANN ?
A. Duties ? What are those ?

Q. What did you do all day ?
A. Stayed home and watch CNN.

Q. Is that all ?
A. No, sometimes I watched FOX News.

[ Reply to This | Parent ]

Re:"The designers of the UDRP -- I was one of them by michael Friday May 06 2005, @07:19AM

Re:Fergie The Duchess of York Does Not Want Critic
by Fergie on Friday May 06 2005, @05:06AM (#15119)
User #4118 Info | http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/

Wrong Fergie, but a bloody good attempt at humor, old chap.

- ferg

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Re:It's a Trick - ICANN Switched the Pill Colors
by fnord ({groy2k} {at} {yahoo.com}) on Monday May 09 2005, @07:27PM (#15166)
User #2810 Info

You're prolific today, even by your own standard. Who switched your pill colors? -g

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