[gnso-igo-ingo] Protection of the RCRC designations and names (follow-up to the Conference Call of 31 July)

[Stephane Hankins <shankins@xxxxxxxx>]

Dear Thomas, dear all, 

Further to the Working Group's session of last Wednesday (31st July), and 
as suggested during the call, we would like to provide written comments 
restating our position on the list of Red Cross and Red Crescent 
designations and denominations to be protected and reserved from 
registration as top and second level domain names. We would also like to 
react and to provide once more clarification of our asks and an 
explanation of why we are asking for an expansion of the current list of 
designations currently reserved in the Applicant Guidebook and in Annex 5 
to the Registry Agreement. As noted during last Wednesday's call: 

(1)        Our request that the actual names of the respective Red Cross 
and Red Crescent organizations be protected in addition to the 
designations "Red Cross", "Red Crescent", "Red Lion and Sun" and "Red 
Crystal" is not new. As indicated, it was our understanding from the 
outset of the PDP process (and of its preceding RCRC/IOC Working Group) 
that in reserving the designations of the Red Cross and Red Crescent 
designations, such protections would duly prevent and block the 
registration, at both top and second levels, of any applied for strings 
which 
-        constitutes an exact match of the designations "Red Cross", "Red 
Crescent", "Red Lion and Sun" or "Red Crystal"; or which 
-       includes either of the said designations (thus, and consequently, 
preventing the registration of the actual names of the respective Red 
Cross and Red Crescent organizations - namely the 189 recognized National 
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Committee of the 
Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent 
Societies). 

This interpretation is based on international law and the domestic law in 
force in multiple jurisdictions. It conforms to the universally approved 
requirements of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional 
Protocols, which specifically protect the Red Cross and Red Crescent 
designations in both their protective function (as the designations of the 
protective emblems in times of armed conflict) and indicative function (to 
indicate a link to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement 
or any of its components). 
Defining the protections to cover only the designations per se ("red 
cross", "red crescent" or "red crystal") and not the names of the 
organizations (e.g. "British Red Cross", "Croix-Rouge française", or 
"Afghan Red Crescent") would fail the requirements of international law 
and of the laws in force in multiple jurisdictions which intend to protect 
the designations at all times. It would also defeat the global public 
interest in preserving the names of the respective Red Cross and Red 
Crescent organizations from misuse, including fraud (a major risk, as 
witnessed in recent disasters during which websites were frequently and 
notoriously set up to divert donations to Red Cross and Red Crescent 
operations in favor of affected persons and communities). 

The request to protect not only the designations per se, but also the 
names of the respective Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations is also 
consistent with the objective and scope of the WG and the latter's mandate 
to consider the names and identifiers of relevant organizations. 

Finally, we would like, in response to comments presented during last 
week's call, to recall that the adjectives composing the names of National 
Red Cross or Red Crescent Societies and indicating the latter's national 
affiliation (e.g. the word American in the name American Red Cross) cannot 
be considered as a simple pre- or suffix. These form a full-fledged part 
of the names of the respective National Red Cross and Red Crescent 
Societies. It is noted in this regard that, under the regulations on the 
use of the emblem by National Red Cross or Red Crescent Societies which 
have been adopted by and approved by States, National Societies are 
required to use their full name for the purposes of identification. 

(2)        It is improper to suggest that we have been "inconsistent" or 
that we have been modifying our asks along the way. 
Members of the WG will recall in this regard that we have been 
consistently calling in the past 9 months for the protections to formally 
and expressly extend to the names (identifiers) of the respective Red 
Cross and Red Crescent organizations (including also the acronyms/initials 
of the two international components of the Movement, the International 
Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross 
and Red Crescent Societies, their acronyms "ICRC" and "IFRC"). Prior to 
this period, as mentioned in point 1 above, we were unaware that we 
specifically needed to provide a finite list for protection, as we were 
under the impression, apparently falsely, that any applied for strings 
containing the designations protected in the Applicant Guidebook would 
also be protected. 

This has been systematically and expressly highlighted in all our recent 
written and oral submissions to ICANN and to the WG, including our 
successive written communications to the WG of 

-        24 January 2013, point (3); 
-        8 February 2013 point (2); 
-        11 March 2013 point (3); 
-        19 April 2013, point (2); 
-        28 May 2013, point (2). 

This has also been consistently reminded in our oral contributions to the 
WG Conference Calls. 
 
(3)        Further to last Wednesday's exchange, we also wish to restate 
that our request is that the names be protected in both their official 
form (as stipulated in the national legislation of the concerned National 
Society), as well as their usual or short forms ("American National Red 
Cross" as well as "American Red Cross"; "British Red Cross Society" as 
well as "British Red Cross"). 
Alan has made the point that this was not clear from our intervention in 
Durban. You will note however that this was implicit in our written 
submission and Position Paper submitted to ICANN's Board and shared with 
the WG in advance of the Durban Meeting, and which included as an annex a 
draft table of National Society names composed of two separate columns 
highlighting both the official and the usual/short names of each National 
Society. As highlighted on the call last week, reserving only the official 
names without the usual names (often themselves displayed within a 
National Society's logo and/or indicated on a National Society's website) 
would not meet the aim of the protections that are sought. We apologize if 
this was not clear in the first discussion of the WG held in Durban.

(4)        While it is correct that the GAC's initial advice focussed on 
the designations themselves, our successive conversations with GAC members 
suggest that it is also their common understanding that the protections 
and reservations of the Red Cross and Red Crescent designations should 
apply to the names of the respective Red Cross and Red Crescent 
organizations (including the names of their respective National Red Cross 
or Red Crescent Society, as well as the names of the two international 
components of the Movement). 

(5)        Please find below a restatement of our request. As indicated 
below, we have, further the discussions and conversations held in Durban, 
reduced our asks with the hope that this will facilitate approval and 
implementation of the protections that are called for. These is also set 
forth in our most recent Public Comment of 17 July and include: 
§       A permanent protection in the current and for all future rounds of 
gTLD applications
        The confirmation that the protections accorded to the Red Cross 
and Red Crescent designations and names shall be made permanent and thus, 
for all future rounds of gTLD applications;
§       The express extension of the current protection of reserved Red 
Cross and Red Crescent designations (as foreseen in Annex 5 to the revised 
Registry Agreement mentioned above) to the full names of the respective 
Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations, including the official and 
usual/short names, of 

- the 189 recognized National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (in 
English, as well as in their respective national languages); 

- the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International 
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (and thus in the 6 
United Nations languages - which are also the 6 working languages of the 
IFRC). 
        Such protections could usefully be implemented through an 
extension of the current list of reserved Red Cross and Red Crescent 
designations to include a full list of the names of the Red Cross and Red 
Crescent organizations.
§       Request is also made that the initials or acronyms of the 
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC/CICR/CICV/MKKK) and of the 
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies 
(IFRC/FICR) should be also protected in their commonly used forms and 
translations. It is noted that the GAC’s final Communiqué to ICANN’s 
Durban Meeting advises ICANNs Board to protect the initials/acronyms of 
the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International 
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and thus, through an 
extension of “the same complementary cost neutral mechanisms to be worked 
out […] for the protection of acronyms of IGOs”. 
§       The inclusion of the Red Cross and Red Crescent designations and 
names on a “Modified Reserved Names List”. This would importantly preserve 
the entitlement of Movement components to register relevant domain names 
should they require to do so. This would also conform with the 
above-mentioned international treaties and norms, which provide for the 
entitlement of the respective Red Cross and Red Crescent organisations to 
use the designations in order to show their association with the 
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. 
§       The establishment of a mechanism or procedure to effectively 
address the issue of strings liable to confusion with the Red Cross and 
Crescent designations and names. This would reflect the requirements of 
international humanitarian law, which expressly prohibit at all times 
unauthorised use of the designations and names, including of “imitations” 
(Article 53 of the First Geneva Convention of 1949). Illustrations of such 
imitations could be, for example, ‘Red Kross’, ‘Reed Crescent’ or “Red 
Cristal”. 
        Further to the conversations held in Durban, we wish the WG to 
note that we have retreated from our request for the establishment of a 
"string similarity review" mechanism, and thus with due consideration to 
the technical difficulties in implementing such a tool in particular at 
the second level. In as much, we wish to express our availability to 
support ICANN's current reflections on the establishment of a new 
mechanism intended to address the rights of legitimate rights holders 
(whether in the form of an early warning mechanism or central repository 
entrusted to inform legitimate rights’ holders in the event the 
registration of a “confusingly similar string” to their name is being 
sought). 

We remain available to discuss the above points further as required. 
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 
Email: shankins@xxxxxxxx 

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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