Re: nsol exclusivity on .com and .net--for how long?

[martys@pop.interport.net]

>Very much so.  NSI has built a trademark out of .com and is obtaining
>tremendous "good will" (in the legal, if not the normal sense of the word)
>value.

speaking precisely to the issue of whether NSI has a right to the ownership
of .com as a trademark, I note the following:

NSI has filed U.S. trademark applications for POWERED BY .COM, .COM PEOPLE
and others (application for THE .COM SERIES has been abandoned.  None of
these applications have been examined yet (as they were filed in april of
this year, i would expect examination in approximately in January).  At
that time the examiner may ask NSI to disclaim the .COM portion of the
marks, as it is a descriptive term for a type of domain name.

NSI may very well disclaim the term, which means that a third party could
use the term, but not in a phrase such as WE'RE THE .COM PEOPLE TOO.


there are affirmative steps a third party could take - file a Letter of
Protest with the PTO (there is a specific procedure), oppose the
applications if they are published without disclaimer.

In my personal opinion NSI would have an uphill battle claiming rights (in the
us at least) establishing ownership of .com as a trademark for several
theories - the not least of which is that numerous third parties such as
BROADCAST.COM and AMAZON.COM use .COM in their own trading names and
trademarks.

So while the possibility of NSI's trademark claim is of concern, the more
significant concern is whether an exclusive contract is now being
negotiated
(or is already signed) that significantly extends NSI's exclusive franchise.



>
>I've suggested before that there be some sort of "affirmative action" to
>strip NSI of the advantages it has built through years of NSF's minimal
>oversight.
>
>Will that happen?  I don't know, but I'm not going to hold my breath.
>
>                --karl--
>
>
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