[gnso-pednr-dt] Ownership of domain names: some hard questions

[Sivasubramanian Muthusamy <isolatedn@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello

A Business Domain name is the name of the business, brand name or some
imaginative phrase which by use becomes familiar among customers and
associates, so the business domain name is an asset for that business entity
that opted to register the domain name. A personal domain name is often the
name of the person who registers the domain name or an imaginative string
which the Registrant comes up with.

Except for machine generated auto-suggestions, the Registrar does not play
any role in the selection of domain names, whether it is registered by a
commercial establishment or by an individual. So, in a sense, from an
intellectual property point of view, domain names are intellectual
properties of the registrants, which are also assets in a business context.

What gives a Registrar the right to consider an expired domain name as part
of his silage?

A Registrar has nothing to do with the domain name, except provide the
service of registration for a fee. A registrant opts to register a domain
name from a certain Registrar instead of another due to reasons of
convenience or cost or no reasons, and by choosing a certain Registrar, the
Registrant does not concede the Registrar the right and rank of the second
owner of the domain name, which automatically gets elevated to the rank of
the first and absolute owner of the domain name that the Registrant has
failed to renew within a tight time frame.

I am concerned about the following points noted in the Registrar Survey
Preliminary Results dated Nov 24, 2009  http://bit.ly/pednrrs

   1. "Registrars renew the registration on behalf of the registered name
   holder". How do they assume this function as a right?
   2. "after expiration 'the registrant has no rights on such registration
   and ownership ... now passes on to the registrar" - Why? The domain name
   ought to go back to the Registry / ICANN.
   3. "renewal and recovery processes differ among registrars. It is not a
   uniform practice to allow an auto-renewal grace period followed by a
   redemption grace period" - A uniform practice is required to be laid down.
   4. "recovery is not an obligation but at the sole discretion of the
   registrar" - Recovery ought to be defined as the right of the Registrant
   5. "Notices are sent by email, some registrars consider the practice of
   notification as non-binding" - When it is considered non-binding - in the
   absence of notices, more Registrants fail to renew their domain names.
   6. "whois contact information is changed to that of the Registrar"  Why?
   7. "additional fee during the auto-renewal and the redemption grace
   period" - Is there any significant additional cost?
   8. "right of registrar to point the domain to a registrar designated page
   which in most cases happen to a ppc page" [ reworded, but still shown within
   quotes] This is opportunistic and can't be considered as implied in the
   contract between the Registrant and Registrar
   9. "right of registrar to auction the expired domain names" - What
   accords them the right?
   10. convenient terms in registration agreements - ICANN needs to look
   into the clauses of a typical Registrar's agreement with the Registrant (
   and may have to suggest a minimal template ?)

Sivasubramanian Muthusamy

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