Public Comment: Proposal to Protect International Red Cross and International Olympic Committee Names at the Top Level in New gTLDs
The Legal Counsels of International Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) would like to share with the community the concerns of IGOs regarding the misuse of our names and reputations in the DNS. We enclose a letter to ICANN from December last year which sets out our concerns and calls on ICANN to provide to IGOs the same consideration as was given to the International Red Cross and the International Olympic Committee. We are not putting in question the importance of protecting the names associated with the International Red Cross and the International Olympic Committee in the DNS. However, any such special protection has to be based on objective criteria. If the criteria consist of the extent to which the terms are protected internationally and nationally, then protecting only the terms belonging to these two organizations while at the same time failing to grant the same considerations to duly established and recognised IGOs does not, in our view, stand up to scrutiny. Stated simply, names and acronyms of IGOs are protected in 180 countries. We therefore urge ICANN, the GAC and the GNSO to continue any further discussion based on objective criteria and verifiable information and legal positions and to engage in a constructive dialogue with IGOs. Attachment:
Open Letter from IGO Legal Counsels 2.pdf |