CNAOC's reaction to the GAC's communiqué on 11 April 2013 in Beijing
Dear Madam, dear Sirs, Please find enclosed a letter from Bernard FARGES, president of the CNAOC. Dear Madam, dear Sirs, CNAOC, the National Appellation of Origin Wines and Brandy Producers Organization, a Paris based-organisation representing PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) and PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) wines towards National, European and international institutions, would like to contribute to the open debate launched by the ICANN Board regarding the Governmental Advisory Committees (GAC) Communiqué of 11 April[1]. In light of our serious concerns regarding the protection of wines with a Geographical Indication (GI), CNAOC would like to bring its support to the position expressed by the GACs Communiqué in Beijing concerning the strings .wine and .vin. CNAOC believes that the management of the possible new Internet domains .wine and .vin is a very sensible issue which must be further examined by the GAC in Durban in July. We would like to underline that CNAOC is not opposed to the attribution of new gTLDs. Nevertheless, given the prejudice that these two strings may cause to the Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) of GI wines, the ICANN Board must take into consideration the request of the GAC and must not proceed beyond Initial Evaluation with the examination of the 4 applications it has received. Moreover, CNAOC calls for the strings .wine and .vin to be included in Annex I Safeguards on New gTLDs. In fact, only their inclusion in that chapter will allow for an adequate respect of GI wines IPRs - as established by article 23 of the WTO TRIPs Agreement on trade-related aspects of IPRs - and to guarantee consumer protection. More specifically, ICANN should develop a procedure that ensures that GI names cannot be reserved by third parties and enables organisations responsible for the protection of GIs to oppose the reservation of a domain name that consists of or contains the name of a GI through a procedure, e.g. an alternative dispute resolution (ADR). We believe it to be necessary for ICANN to take into account the opinions of professional organisations and governments. On the contrary it would risk discrediting this major change in the development of the Internet. We thank you in advance for taking into consideration our observations and would welcome an open discussion on this specific issue. Yours faithfully, Bernard FARGES Président _____ _____ [1] http://bcove.me/nizq38rg Attachment:
2013.04.19 - Lettre CNAOC ICANN.doc |