Comments of Costco Wholesale on the STI Recommendations

["Leigh Fulwood" <LFULWOOD@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear ICANN:

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Special Trademark Issues
Report.  We are pleased that you have chosen to include a Trademark
Clearinghouse proposal, and thank you for doing so.  We note, however,
that the majority view would allow the clearinghouse to be used only
during the initial period, and only for new gTLD's.  We suggest that the
clearinghouse, assuming it is useful at all, will be useful in other
contexts.  We suggest that it be set up at the outset with suitable
procedures and infrastructure so that its use may be expanded, to the
protection of trademarks after initial period, and potentially to the
context of legacy TLDs.  

As a trademark owner it is difficult for us to understand why the domain
name ownership paradigm is so much more friendly to infringers and
"domainers" (as they are called in the industry) than to trademark
owners and Internet end-users.  It is relatively easy, inexpensive, and
low-risk to own a large portfolio of infringing domains; it is
relatively expensive and time-consuming for the trademark owner to do
anything about the consequent infringement problem.  A trademark
clearinghouse could help even the imbalance of incentives between those
who use infringing domains as illegitimate revenue-generating sites and
those who must protect their trademarks, through ownership of an
extensive defensive portfolio, pursuit of UDRP complaints at a cost of a
few thousand dollars each, and through in rem proceedings.  While the
clearinghouse may be inherently imperfect as a protection mechanism, for
the community of international trademark owners whose consumer-facing
brands are particularly attractive to abusers, it would be of great
utility. 

Very truly yours,  
 
Leigh Fulwood
Corporate Counsel
425.313.6504
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