[gnso-whois-wg] Statement of Interest

["Scoville, Adam" <ascoville@xxxxxxxxx>]

Statement of interest for the WHOIS working group - Adam Scoville

 

1. Current occupation, employer and position

 

RE/MAX International, Inc., Corporate Counsel.

 

2. Type of work performed in 1 above

 

I oversee trademark and advertising issues at RE/MAX International,
which franchises real estate brokerage offices with over 120,000 sales
associates, in more than 6,500 franchised offices, in over 65 countries.


 

This includes investigating and responding to complaints by consumers
and RE/MAX franchises of domain names that include the RE/MAX marks but
are owned by individuals and companies not connected with RE/MAX. It
also includes investigating and non-legal resolution of instances of
domain names owned by RE/MAX affiliates that violate RE/MAX
International's standards for affiliate domain name registration. It
also includes overseeing RE/MAX International's domain name portfolio.

 

I also chair the Whois Subcommittee of the International Trademark
Association.

 

3. Financial ownership or management leadership of registries,
registrars or other firms that are interested parties in Whois.

 

Neither I nor RE/MAX International have any ownership or management
position in any registry or registrar.

 

4. Nature of your interest in Whois

 

I believe that the ability of consumers to verify who they are dealing
with on-line is critical to the development and continuation of a safe
and secure on-line marketplace, and indeed the practical operation of
the rule of law on the Internet, which in turn benefit businesses
wishing to reach those customers. In turn, business' and law
enforcement's ability to access Whois and to address infringing and
fraudulent web addresses rapidly, before more consumers can be confused
or defrauded, also protects consumers. However, I believe it is worth
exploring practical ways to address some data-mining issues, consistent
with these principles, and that this may be our best hope for productive
work on the issue. 

 

I look forward to working with working group members over the next four
months.

 

Regards,

Adam