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[gnso-igo-ingo] Protection of the RCRC designations - RCRC comments
- To: gnso-igo-ingo@xxxxxxxxx, Thomas Rickert <rickert@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Subject: [gnso-igo-ingo] Protection of the RCRC designations - RCRC comments
- From: Stephane Hankins <shankins@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:58:38 +0200
Dear Thomas, dear all,
Further to last Wednesday’s Conference call, we would like to share with
you below some of our thoughts and positions on the various proposals now
under consideration by the Working Group.
(1) We appreciate firstly that the Group appears to be in agreement on a
differentiated approach and consideration of the respective cases for
protection under its consideration, namely IGO’s, the IOC, the Red Cross
and Red Crescent, and INGO’s. As you will recall, it has been a consistent
concern from our side that the sui generis case for protection and
reservation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent designations and names be
distinguished and examined in their own right, and thus considering the
particular protection of these designations and names under universally
agreed international humanitarian law treaties and the legislation in
force in multiple jurisdictions.
(2) At the top and second level, we ask that:
- the current moratorium on the Red Cross, Red Crescent and Red
Crystal designations be made permanent in all new gTLD’s and for all
future rounds, as recently confirmed by the GAC in its advice to ICANN’s
Board on the occasion of the recent Beijing Meeting;
- it be confirmed, consistent with our recent submissions, that the
protections already recognized to the Red Cross and Red Crescent
designations extend not only to the 29 designations expressly listed in
the Applicant Guidebook and revised Registry Agreement, but also to the
full names of the respective Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations
(such as the names “British Red Cross”, “Afghan Red Crescent”,
“International Committee of the Red Cross” or “International Federation of
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies”). A full list of names of the
respective Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations can be made available;
- the designations and names of the Red Cross and Red Crescent
remain available for registration as domain names for the respective Red
Cross or Red Crescent organizations (e.g. through inclusion on a Modified
Reserved List). As noted in our past communications to the Group, the risk
of claims or contests emanating from organizations outside of the
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement would be virtually null,
as the number of organizations duly authorized under international law
(and domestic laws) to make use of the Red Cross or Red Crescent
designations for indicative purposes is finite and specified under
relevant international treaties (the instance of grand-fathered use is
strictly constrained under relevant international treaties; the respective
Red Cross or Red Crescent organizations are not entitled to "licence" the
designations or their names);
- should the need be felt, we would not oppose the notion of
safeguards or of a consent based exception procedure for demonstrated
rights holders, as has been proposed within the Group, and thus in
particular with regard to the acronyms of Red Cross or Red Crescent
organizations.
As noted in past exchanges with the Group, the acronyms of the two
international organizations within the International Red Cross and Red
Crescent Movement, namely those of the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC/CICR) and of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies (IFRC), are today well established and their
association with both organizations widely recognized, including in the
context of Resolutions adopted by States at the International Conferences
of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. We would agree that the registration of
the said acronyms into the TMCH could offer a viable option, subject
however to the confirmation that
§ the said acronyms are eligible to be registered under the TMCH;
and that
§ the respective Red Cross or Red Crescent organizations enjoy
standing to activate subsequent objection mechanisms and enjoy a waiver of
fees in registering under the TMCH and in resorting, as may be required,
to objection procedures.
With best regards,
Stéphane J. Hankins
Legal adviser
Cooperation and coordination within the Movement
International Committee of the Red Cross
Tel (direct line): ++0041 22 730 24 19
Christopher M. Rassi
Senior Legal Officer
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Chemin des Crêts, 17 | 1209 Petit Saconnex | Geneva | Switzerland
Tel. +41 (0)22 730 4536 | Fax +41 (0)22 733 0395
Email christopher.rassi@xxxxxxxx
----- Forwarded by Stephane Hankins/DC_MOUV_CHF/GVA/ICRC on 19.04.2013
13:20 -----
From: Stephane Hankins/DC_MOUV_CHF/GVA/ICRC
To: gnso-igo-ingo@xxxxxxxxx, Thomas Rickert <rickert@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "Christopher RASSI (christopher.rassi@xxxxxxxx)"
<christopher.rassi@xxxxxxxx>, "Debra.Hughes@xxxxxxxxxxxx"
<Debra.Hughes@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, Catherine Gribbin
<Catherine.Gribbin@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 11.03.2013 18:41
Subject: [gnso-igo-ingo] Protection of the RCRC designations - RCRC
comments
Dear Thomas, dear all,
(1) Further to your request, we would like herewith to reiterate the Red
Cross and Red Crescent position that the protections of the red cross, red
crescent red lion and sun and red crystal designations be recognized, and
implemented preventively, within ICANN's mechanisms, rules and agreements
at both top and second level. This would conform to the requirements of
international humanitarian law - the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and
their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005.
As regards the preventive mechanisms in place and in light of some of the
debates held yesterday during the WG call, we would like to recall once
more that this is not just an issue of fees, for which a waiver or
coverage could it seems be considered, but also one of the monitoring and
control burden that a reactive/curative approach would represent for the
Red Cross and Red Crescent organisations. The prohibitions under the
aforementioned Conventions on misuse or unauthorized use of the
designations are in this regard clear and should be enforced. We will
await of course the forthcoming opinion of ICANN's Legal Council, but it
should obviously be borne in mind that the primary treaties concerned were
adopted at a time - 1949 - when the Internet did not exist, and that their
formulations could hardly be expected at the time to expressly and
specifically address the issue of the registration of domain names. The
same holds true of the national implementating legislation for the 1949
Geneva Conventions in force in many national jurisdictions.
(2) As to the issue of acronyms of organizations, as we mentioned during
the last conference call, it might indeed be required from a general
perspective to seek to define criteria for their protection and
reservation, based for example, besides protection under international law
and/or the domestic law in multiple jurisdictions, on international
recognition, commonality of usage and/or the level to which the concerned
organizations are identified and known by their acronym. One example is
the acronym of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC, CICR,
MKKK) which enjoys a high level of recognition and is used and referred to
in a number of past resolutions adopted by the International Conference of
the Red Cross and Red Crescent, in which all States parties to the Geneva
Conventions (195 to date, following the recent accession by the Republic
of South Sudan) participate as full members. It should also be noted that
the acronym is also and furthermore an integral part of the ICRC's
official logo (copied below).
Considering that indeed these acronyms, including the acronym of the
International Federation (IFRC), are not per se protected under
international humanitarian law treaties and may be in use by other
organizations, we would agree with the suggestion that the acronyms be
subject, when applied for in a second-level domain name, to some form of
"exception process" or "dispute resolution procedure" for applicants
claiming to have a legitimate interest in registering the acronyms (a
procedure for which however appropriate criteria would need to be
defined).
(3) Further to past discussions within the group, we are in the process of
verifying a table of the names of National Red Cross or Red Crescent
Societies which would require protection, together with the names
"International Committee of the Red Cross" and "International Federation
of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies" and their acronyms, and thus in
addition to the designations of the emblems protected under international
humanitarian law ("Red Cross", "Red Crescent", "Red Lion and Sun" and "Red
Crystal"). Another solution would indeed be to consider to provide for a
String Similarity review by key word, thus allowing to cover all strings
including the aforementioned designations.
(4) As we have mentioned in the past, limiting the reservations and the
reserved names list to exact matches of the designations and of the names
of the Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations to exact matches would not
fully suit the requirements of the protections as they are defined under
international humanitarian law, which also prohibit imitations. A String
Similarity mechanism would thus be warranted at the top level and, as far
as technically feasible, at the second level in order to prevent the
registration of names/strings which are confusingly similar.
(5) Lastly, regarding the proposed protection matrix circulated before
last week's call, we would like to recommend that the RCRC entry in Column
4, Tab “TOP LEVEL”, as well as the tab “SECOND LEVEL”, be revised to
include a reference to “multiple national laws”.
We remain available to discuss any of the points described above.
With best regards,
Stéphane J. Hankins
Legal adviser
Cooperation and coordination within the Movement
International Committee of the Red Cross
Tel (direct line): ++0041 22 730 24 19
Christopher M. Rassi
Senior Legal Officer
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Chemin des Crêts, 17 | 1209 Petit Saconnex | Geneva | Switzerland
Tel. +41 (0)22 730 4536 | Fax +41 (0)22 733 0395
Email christopher.rassi@xxxxxxxx
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