Comments on URS

[Jon Schultz <jon3300@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear ICANN,

I support the bulk of the previously submitted comments of Mr. George
Kirikos in this matter.

In addition, I generally feel that there should be more freedom allowed in
the use of domain names. I support the granting of trademarks and the
enforcement of laws which prohibit the use of another's trademark in
dishonest business - trying to fool consumers into believing that they are
dealing with the trademark holder - but beyond that I feel that trademark
holders have been granted way too much power in the field of domain names,
to the extent where their ability to usurp or otherwise impede the use of
domains severely infringes on what I feel should be the unalienable rights
of domain registrants.

I feel it should be an accepted principle that a domain name legitimately
performs the same function as a book cover. It is perfectly legal, as it
should be, to publish a book entitled "The Xerox Corporation," with no
further printing on the book cover other than the title, and that does not
and should not give the Xerox Corporation, with its very strong trademark,
the right to take any offensive action, as it is considered a matter of
common sense that its name being on the book cover does not necessarily
imply that it is responsible for any or all of the book's contents.

Similarly, the domain name Xerox.com, for example, could legitimately be
used by any party for a website about the Xerox Corporation, and as long
as the contents of the website did not, intentionally or negligently, create
confusion as to the source of that content, that use should be considered
legitimate as a part of the freedom of expression which we want our society
to guarantee. Such absence of confusion could be easily guaranteed by an
intermediate page, similar to the intermediate page on
many adult-content websites, on which the visitor would be explicitly
informed that there was no association between the Xerox Corporation and the
website, and be required to affirm his understanding of such to be granted
access to the site.

What ICANN should have done around 1994 or earlier, in my opinion, was to
create an series of extensions such as .mark, .mark2, .mark3, etc., which
would be restricted to trademark holders, and with trademark holders being
given a period of time to apply for the .mark domain of their trademark,
with the strongest-mark holder, where there were multiple applications for a
.mark domain, being granted the .mark domain and with other applicants being
granted the .mark2, .mark3, etc. Then, when consumers wanted to find the
website of the Xerox Corporation, for example, they would know to look at
Xerox.mark and they would not assume that the owners of any other domain
which included "xerox" were necessarily affiliated with the Xerox
Corporation.

But what happened is that .com became the Rodeo Drive of Internet addresses
and started attracting significant type-in traffic. Those domains then came
to be very valuable, like an empty lot in a well-trafficked area, and
trademark holders who wanted that valuable property started asserting that
they had a right not only to the dotcom domain of their trademark but to any
domain with anything like their name in it (even though it is quite legal,
for example, to open a hardware store next door to another hardware store
which advertises a lot). ICANN's and various governments' acquiesence to
this power grab, in my opinion, then led to the ridiculous situation where
we are now, where anyone with a trademark, even on a commonly used word or
phrase, can claim that he has the right to the domain name of that word or
phrase in every extension, and this has led to many actions against domains
which were not being used in a trademark infringing manner, and in many
cases successfully so.

I know that this is a somewhat radical point of view with little chance of
being quickly accepted in the current situation where trademark holders have
been granted as much power as they have, however I hope it is one that you
will consider over time and hopefully change your policies on domain names
back towards. With regard to the more specific issues under consideration,
again, I support the bulk of the comments previously submitted by George
Kirikos. I have no idea if Mr. Kirikos would agree with anything else I have
written here.

Thank you very much for your consideration in this matter.

Sincerely,

Jon Schultz, President
Blue String Ventures, Inc.
2657 Windmill Parkway, #386
Henderson, NV 89074
702-884-6165