Re: Domain Names and Trademarks

[KathrynKL@aol.com]

I would add to the note below that, according to all studies conducting of the
Internet, the vast majority of use is for noncommercial purposes -- email,
chat rooms, research, education.  The vast majority of domain names are also
for noncommercial purposes:  personal websites, political websites, community
organization websites, email, FTP sites, etc. In the real world, these
noncommercial users of words do not have to preclear their use of any terms or
titles with a central Trademark office anywhere. For such a requirement to
exist in cyberspace would be a great burden on speech worldwide. 

Kathryn A. Kleiman
General Counsel, A-TCPIP/Domain Name Rights Coalition
 
<< 
 It must be recognized that people and organizations have a right to use a
 name even if they do not have a trademark on it.  This right should not be
 infringed in favor of holders of trademarks.  That is, if a person or
 organization has a right to use any given name, in any jurisdiction, for
 whatever purpose, and they register a domain name with this name, they
 should not be prevented from registering or lose this domain because
 another organization does have a trademark on it.
 
 Generally anyone can use a name if it is not used in the same industry as
 an organization that does have a trademark on it.  The only time someone or
 some organization should be prevented from using a domain name is if they
 blatantly use it for the purpose of infringing a trademark.
 
  >>