RE: [gnso-dt-wg] Follow-up BNA coverage of WG activities

["Rosette, Kristina" <krosette@xxxxxxx>]

It was published, but before the author had the opportunity to correct
inadvertent factual errors (such as naming me the chair of the IPC,
which I'm not, for example.)

K 

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeffrey Eckhaus [mailto:jeckhaus@xxxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 3:30 PM
To: Rosette, Kristina; Diaz, Paul; gnso-dt-wg@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [gnso-dt-wg] Follow-up BNA coverage of WG activities

I am confused - if it was published then it is what everyone read, isn't
that what really matters? 

Or was what Paul sent around just the draft that nobody saw? 

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-gnso-dt-wg@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-gnso-dt-wg@xxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Rosette, Kristina
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 3:20 PM
To: Diaz, Paul; gnso-dt-wg@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [gnso-dt-wg] Follow-up BNA coverage of WG activities

This is actually not the "correct" article.  (It is a draft that was
apparently inadvertently published.)  The "correct" version is attached.
It appeared in the BNA Electronic Commerce and Law Report.

Kristina

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-gnso-dt-wg@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-gnso-dt-wg@xxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Diaz, Paul
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 3:10 PM
To: gnso-dt-wg@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gnso-dt-wg] Follow-up BNA coverage of WG activities

FYI - The following article appeared in this week's BNA/Pike & Fisher's
Internet Law & Regulation


ICANN Seeks Data on 'Domain Tasting,' Later Outreach to Trademark Owners
Planned (Pike & Fisher, 082807)

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is in the midst
of a public comment process on the causes and effects of "domain
tasting," a try-before-you-buy scheme that permits registrants to test a
domain's effectiveness for generating ad revenue without incurring a
registration fee. 

Trademark owners believe they are particularly victimized by domain
tasting, as variants of trademarked terms are often fertile sources of
Web traffic. A trademark-owner-specific questionnaire will be published
at a future date. 
A small group within ICANN began addressing the tasting issue in earnest
after ICANN's June 2007 public meeting in San Juan. As group coordinator
Mike Rodenbaugh told P&F parent company BNA shortly after the group
convened, the group's main goal was fact-finding. 

"A lot of work is being done on domain tasting, and there are a lot of
perspectives on the best ways to temper or solve the problem. We hope
that our work will help us see what the market really needs, so that our
later policy can actually make an impact," Rodenbaugh said in July. 

Domain tasting occurs when a person registers a domain name, generally a
variant of a trademarked term, sets up pay-per-click ads on the
associated web site, and waits to see if the site generates ad income.
Domains that are not profitable are dropped. This "tasting" is permitted
by the "add/grace" period inherent in domain registration. Aside from
creating problems for other domain name owners, domain tasting has also
drawn the ire of the trademark owner community. 

Broad Answers to Broad Questions Sought
After months of meetings, the group has released a fact-finding
questionnaire, which is available on the ICANN web site. The
questionnaire seeks input from all Internet marketplace participants
with broad questions such as "Have you been disadvantaged by domain
tasting," "Have you requested the deletion of a domain name during the
Add Grace Period," and "Do you believe that domain tasting impacts the
security and stability of the Internet." 

Task force member Kristina Rosette, an attorney with Covington & Burling
in Washington, D.C., told BNA that narrowing the list of questions was a
challenge. 

"When we sat down and thought about the questions we wanted answered, we
generated a lot more than we could ask-the questionnaire would have been
far too long if we let it run the whole gamut," Rosette said. 
The primary questionnaire aims to address the more "universal" issues,
she said. The questionnaire asks the questions to which every market
participant should have an answer. 

Comments from the Internet general community are due Sept. 15. 

Trademark Issues Warrant Separate Questions Domain tasting affects
different users differently, however. Rather than try to tackle all
perspectives in the one questionnaire, Rosette said that the group opted
to leave the specifics to the constituencies. 

"We determined that the best course would be to take a more generalized
approach, then let the individual constituencies ask their members the
more nuanced questions," she said. 

The Intellectual Property Constituency, which Rosette chairs, has
drafted-and will soon release-a "supplemental request for information"
for trademark owners. 

"Domain tasting is really important for trademark owners, and its
ramifications in the trademark realm are different than they are for
other users," she said. "The IPC wants to be sure that unique trademark
issues will go to the ad hoc group for consideration," she said. 

The most-tasted domains are those that incorporate trademarked terms,
Rosette said, as these are the names that frequently attract the most
traffic. 

The first thing that the IPC wants to gauge is how trademark owners
notice that their marks are used in tasting, and how they respond. Then,
the group wants to know what changes would be most helpful to the
owners, Rosette said. 

"Is domain tasting actually increasing, or is it just that awareness is
on the rise?" Rosette asked. "When owners realize that their marks are
being tasted, how do they respond? Are they using the UDRP or are they
seeking judicial remedy? Is it working?" 

The IPC suspects that the add/grace period is hampering trademark
owners' protection of their marks, Rosette said, as all remedies, the
UDRP included, generally take far longer than five days to implement.
She said that comments and statistics to back these suspicions up will
be "invaluable" as ICANN moves forward with its tasting investigations. 

The ad-hoc group is also planning a dedicated UDRP questionnaire, which
Rosette said is still being finalized. 

She said the IPC's supplemental questionnaire is near completion, and
should to go public by early September. 

The ad hoc group's general questionnaire, along with comments received,
is available at
<http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-2-10aug07.htm>. 

ICANN released an issues report on domain tasting policy issues earlier
this summer, also available at the ICANN web site,
<http://gnso.icann.org/issues/domain-tasting/gnso-domain-tasting-report-
14jun07.pdf>.