Response

[Bruce W Longbottom <longbottom_bruce@xxxxxxxxx>]

To Whom It May Concern:

ICANN has asked for comments regarding classifying certain applications as 
"closed generic" TLDs, i.e., how to determine whether a string is generic.  
That first requires an understanding  of what is a "generic" term.  Generic 
terms are common words or terms, often found in the dictionary, that identify 
products and services and are not specific to any particular source.  See 
http://www.inta.org/TrademarkBasics/FactSheets/Pages/TrademarksvsGenericTermsFactSheet.aspx.
  As applied to TLDs, if the TLD is ".apple" and the mission/purpose for that 
registry involved apple groves and apple trees, that would be a generic TLD. 
However, if the mission/purpose for the .apple gTLD involved computers, that 
would not be a generic TLD.  So even if a TLD is a word found in a dictionary 
(or is used as a common word or term), whether or not it is generic depends 
upon the products or services in the mission or purpose for that particular 
registry.

I hope this is helpful.  Thank you.

Bruce Longbottom
Assistant General Counsel
Trademarks, Copyrights and Information Technology
Eli Lilly and Company


phone: (317) 651-1346
fax: (317) 276-1919
email: longbottom_bruce@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:longbottom_bruce@xxxxxxxxx>