Laws, Amendments, and Agreements

["Ed Muller" <Ed@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

As we continue forward through the worst economic downturn in history,
nothing seems more prevalent than the lack of oversight and accountability
over the last ten years as businesses did whatever they could to make
money at everyone else's expense. The real shame is the blatant lack of
any ethical standards, and a complete loyalty to profit at any cost.

New UDRP agreements, or amendments, or simply rewriting the rules, are
just another symptom of a repressed ability to make tough moral choices.
Without accountability or oversight, weakening already unenforced UDRP
standards simply allows copyright holders to abuse their trademarks in
favor of getting "bulk discounts" and "quick decisions". What will stop
Dell from getting a favorable result against Delicatessen.com? Or
Microsoft from winning Micro.net in a dispute? Or Google from plowing
through any rational and reasonable laws to simply bully themselves into
owning GOO.org? Even worse, what's to prevent them from filing over and
over again until they win? What penalty other than a "bad word" will they
receive for obvious  abuse of an empty, unjust system?

The UDRP wall of shame shows us how poorly we've performed and how little
anyone cares about reform. Fixing the system and creating real,
enforceable, and legally responsible standards is a must before moving in
any other direction.

Ed Muller, Namemon
http://www.namemon.com