[gnso-igo-ingo] RE: Objective Criteria Shortlist

["Shatan, Gregory S." <GShatan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is very well put.  I agree with Claudia 100%, except that I would more 
firmly state that prior efforts to stem abuse should not be a prerequisite for 
protection of identical strings (I would consider it for previously-abused 
variants, as in the Strawman proposal).

Greg


Gregory S. Shatan
Partner
Reed Smith LLP
599 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10022
212.549.0275 (Phone)
917.816.6428 (Mobile)
212.521.5450 (Fax)
gshatan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.reedsmith.com



From: owner-gnso-igo-ingo@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-gnso-igo-ingo@xxxxxxxxx] On 
Behalf Of Claudia MACMASTER TAMARIT
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 6:08 AM
To: gnso-igo-ingo@xxxxxxxxx
Cc: Thomas Rickert (rickert@xxxxxxxxxxx); Berry Cobb (mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx); Jim 
Bikoff (jbikoff@xxxxxxxxx); David Heasley (dheasley@xxxxxxxxx); Kiran 
Malancharuvil (kmalancharuvil@xxxxxxxxx)
Subject: [gnso-igo-ingo] Objective Criteria Shortlist


Hi all,



We strongly support the effort to work efficiently and steadily towards an 
objective and non-discriminatory Recommendation regarding special protections 
for IGO-INGO names.  In this light, we suggest the following prioritized list 
of criteria:



1)      Membership (e.g., 1+ country represented)

2)      Organizational mandate to serve the international public good (e.g., 
Statutes, Bylaws, Treaty, etc.)

3)      Character string to be protected is already protected in law (e.g., 
trademark law, Article 6ter)

4)      Non-profit status

5)      Work/serve on international level (e.g., 1+ countries or 1+ 
international organization)

6)      Engage individuals globally (e.g., involving persons from 1+ country)

7)      Internet presence (e.g.,  at least 1 domain name)



Please note the last criteria is suggested in light of our recent conversations 
(and could be expanded to include evidence of defending that presence, if 
appropriate.)  Of course any discussion of an organization’s efforts to defend 
against domain name abuse must be contextualized.



There is a deep irony in requiring “vulnerable” organizations to show that they 
have and can shell out thousands and thousands on a yearly basis for domain 
name abuse.  Such an exercise needs to be contextualized with reference to the 
organization’s mandate and operational realities.



In regards to the attached, we disagree that "The most objective, and useful 
criterion to the inquiry is the existence of national laws or treaties that 
prohibit the unauthorized use of the words/designations in question” for the 
following reasons;



a.       The relationship between the aspect protected by treaty and the 
alphanumeric string to be protected may be far from direct or objectively 
assessed (unless, e.g., it is the Paris Convention, TRIPs, etc. where TM = name 
or 6ter protection = name).



b.      Relatedly, the relevance a treaty may have in regards to the protection 
of a name in a domain name may not be readily evident (unless, e.g., again, the 
name is directly protected).



c.       Reference to a treaty may exclude many organizations (for example, 
organizations without trademark protection for their names across multiple 
jurisdictions) without any legitimate justification.



d.      We should remember there is nothing in the language of the charter that 
limits us when discussing the relevance of treaty protections.  The cases for 
INGOs, IGOs and the IOC and the Red Cross may be vastly different and merit 
individual analysis.



As a final note, we suggest the top two (2) criteria are of priority.



Both (1) membership composition and (2) possessing an organizational mandate to 
serve the international public good are criteria directed to including only 
organizations with a truly global reach and which serve the public good.



Sincerely,

Claudia

Claudia MacMaster Tamarit, Esq.
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Manager

International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
ISO Central Secretariat
T:  + 41 22 749 0441
F:  + 41 22 733 3430
E:  macmaster@xxxxxxx<mailto:macmaster@xxxxxxx>
www.iso.org<http://www.iso.org/>




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