IRT Report and Recommendations

[dtp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Good day, gentlemen;

As a website and domain network developer, I have grave concerns about the 
recommendations made by the IRT concerning the proposed URS. The UDRP is a 
process that works well, and it affords all parties concerned with a domain 
name dispute an equitable opportunity to address concerns and present 
legitimate defenses against frivolous claims of ownership of domain names.

The present proposal, until all legal interpretations are considered, will 
result in potential chaos online. There is a free enterprise system that is 
being jeopardized by permitting passage of the URS into policy. Those who own 
trademarks - and I own trademarks - would be able to force domain owners or 
website operators to shut down on the basis of a claimant's allegation of bad 
faith. This process completely usurps the due process clause of the US 
Constitution. It results in the seizure of property. While domains and their 
registration fall under the aegis of contract law, the content that is 
published there is intellectual property, and forcing a domain owner with a 
legitimate contract right to a domain to suspend operations to DISprove the 
allegations of a trademark owner is a reverse application of the law.

The burden of proof should be on the trademark owner, entirely.

This is a dangerous precedent that will result in a litigious process. The UDRP 
is sufficient to handle the concerns of trademark owners, of which I am one. 
And a person need not be a trademark owner to warrant registration of a domain 
name. We own no trademarks for Rodan Media, but it is a corporation organized 
under Florida Law.

I strongly encourage you to reasses this proposed URS, and I implore you to 
consider the broad implications resulting from the potential of abuse of such a 
system, if enacted.

My thanks to you for your consideration of this email.

Daniel Thomas Pryor
Vice President
Rodan Media Group Corporation
625 Antioch Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33304

954.934.4310

www.rodanmedia.net
dtp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx