Comments on Special Trademark Issues (STI) Report

["McCarthy, Kathleen" <kmccarthy@xxxxxxxxx>]

The Coca-Cola Company ("TCCC") submits the following comments to the Special 
Trademark Issues (STI) Review Team Recommendations dated 11 December 2009.

As a major global brand owner, TCCC generally supports robust trademark rights 
protection mechanisms such as those initially recommended by the Implementation 
Recommendation Team ("IRT"). Without such mechanisms, the addition of new gTLDs 
will add substantially to the monetary, administrative and legal burdens brand 
owners such as TCCC already incur fighting the fraud and abuse present in the 
current system. The interests of the Internet community as a whole are advanced 
by approaching the new gTLD system with carefully-planned mechanisms in place 
to protect against cybersquatting and fraud.

Of particular concern to TCCC are the following:

1. The Trademark Clearinghouse should not be funded by brand owners alone. The 
Clearinghouse will also benefit registrars and ICANN by providing 
administrative and data checking functions, and will benefit the public by 
preventing adoption of at least some fraudulent domain names in the new gTLDs. 
Payment of the fees for use of the Clearinghouse therefore should reflect that 
it benefits all constituencies. Payment of the fees for use of the 
Clearinghouse should also reflect the significant costs brand owners already 
bear under the current domain name system, which will only increase with new 
gTLDs.

2. Matches against marks listed in the Clearinghouse should be broadened to 
include more than just the identical hits recommended in the STI Report. Other 
gTLD launches, such as DOT Asia, included broader matching possibilities. There 
is no reason to limit the match to identical hits when the technology exists to 
address broader matches that are still clear infringements, such as the use of 
a brand name with a related generic term.

TCCC believes that the changes suggested above will help create a safer and 
more stable platform for all parties involved.
TCCC further notes that a phased implementation of new gTLDs, starting with 
selected groups such as community terms or generic terms, will provide an 
opportunity to test the rights protection mechanisms and to modify them as 
appropriate before a wide-scale new gTLD launch, and urges ICANN to adopt such 
a phased approach.

Thank you.

Paula Guibault
Trademark Counsel: Global Trademark Team
The Coca-Cola Company
pguibault@xxxxxxxxx
W: +1 404 676 4243 | F: +1 404 598 4243
Mailing Address: PO Box 1734, Atlanta, GA 30301
Physical Address: One Coca-Cola Plaza, NAT 1940, Atlanta, Georgia 30313




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