[npoc-voice] European Proposed Regulations with regard to Domain Names and Trade Marks
Dear NPOC members,Last month as Chair of the NPOC Policy Committee I kicked off a discussion of proposed European Community regulations with regard to trademarks and domain names that, if enacted, would open a Pandora’s Box of problems with regard, in particular, to domain name use in the Not-for-Profit and Civil Society sectors. After some consultation and dialogue I have drafted an NPOC position which is attached. Time is short since the European trilogue is likely to start shortly and we want the members of that trilogue to have time to digest what we have to say. The attached draft version document will go to about ten relevant individual members of the European Parliament and representatives from European countries who will be engaged in the European Parliament’s trilogue process involved in the "Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks”. The trilogue process is very opaque informal tripartite process attended by representatives of the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission in which representatives of the EU’s three main institutions try to forge compromises on often-clashing positions. Here is a link to help understand it: https://euobserver.com/investigations/123555 The NPOC submission is concerned with one particular part of the Council of the European Union “Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks”. The proposal wording, reproduced below, can be found on page 35 of the document at: http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-11827-2014-INIT/en/pdf: Section 3: Rights conferred and limitations; Article 10: Rights conferred by a trade mark; Item 3: reads: / “The following, in particular, may be prohibited under paragraph 2; [page 35]: (d) using the sign as a trade or company name, *or as a domain name, or as a part thereof*;” /NPOC recommends deleting “*as a part thereof” *from the proposed regulations. Note: The Intellectual Property constituency and others are also submitting comments to the some members of the trilogue process. This wording risks opening a Pandora’s Box of problems, including scope for predatory litigation, with regard to otherwise quite proper domain names. As well, it is an unnecessary regulation since domain name trademark violations are adequately covered under other normal trademark protections. Sam Lanfranco, Chair, NPOC Policy Committee. Attachment:
EU_EC_DomainNameSubmission.pdf
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