Support of Limited Preventative Registration and Strawman Solution proposals

[david.golden@xxxxxxxxx]

January 8, 2013

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
Public Comments on Trademark Clearinghouse "Strawman Solution" and Limited 
Preventive Registrations

Via e-mail to tmch-strawman@xxxxxxxxx


Re: Support of Limited Preventative Registration and Strawman Solution 
proposals


Dear ICANN Staff:

The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America represents over 
1,000 insurance companies that write nearly 40 percent of business, home 
and auto insurance in the United States. As brand holders concerned about 
the consumers purchasing our products, as well as our corporate 
reputations, we write to encourage ICANN to adopt both the Limited 
Preventative Registration (LPR) and ?Strawman? proposals. 

We remain concerned that the inadequate protections thus far proffered by 
ICANN could leave brands, and the consumers relying on them, at risk for 
deception on the Web. Strawman extends the operating time of the Trademark 
Clearinghouse but is still a short-term tool that will only delay 
cybersquatters that would either take advantage of consumers outright or 
attempt to sell domains to trademark holders whose businesses and 
reputations are at stake. 

LPR, on the other hand, creates a limited means for trademark owners to 
prevent second-level registration of their marks (exact matches, plus 
character strings previously determined to have been abusively registered 
or used) across all registries, upon payment of a reasonable fee, with 
appropriate safeguards for registrants with a legitimate right or 
interest. It is not the ?Do Not Sell? approach that would best protect 
consumers and trademark holders; however, LPR provides a means for 
trademark holders to achieve limited protection for key second-level 
domain names across all gTLDs. This approach provides significantly better 
protection for consumers and trademark holders than does Strawman alone.

We need not repeat the comments of trademark holders that demonstrate the 
current scale of trademark abuse in second-level domains with just 22 TLDs 
available. However, we refer to them as evidence of the need for ICANN to 
take effective action to prevent both fraud that victimizes consumers and 
needless loss of jobs around the world that trademark holders could create 
if they did not have to spend the money on defensive registrations. ICANN 
can help fulfill its promise of encouraging Internet economic development 
by taking immediate action to implement Limited Preventive Registrations.

Sincerely,
Rita Nowak
Rita Nowak
Vice President, Commercial Lines and Workers Compensation