Whois Database Motions

["Borchard, William M." <WMB@xxxxxxx>]

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are one of the leading intellectual property law firms in the United States 
and we write respectfully to urge the Generic Names Supporting Organization 
Council to adopt Motion 2 (and to reject Motions 1 and 3).

The public availability of Whois information is very important to us and our 
clients for various reasons including:

*       When our client wishes to adopt a trademark and someone already owns 
the corresponding .com domain name, we need to know with whom to communicate a 
purchase offer.  When ownership is masked by the registrar, our experience is 
that we have great difficulty getting any response from the owner of the domain 
name.  When ownership is available, we find it very easy to complete such 
transactions.

*       When our client wishes to commence a UDRP proceeding, having the real 
Whois information cuts down on the expense of having to amend the complaint 
later.

*       If there is a trademark infringer using the Internet, it sometimes 
helps us to identify the infringer if we can find the owner of the domain name 
for the website on which the infringement is occurring.

Accordingly,  we believe that a comprehensive study of the legitimate uses of 
Whois data, and its abuses, would be desirable so that any changes to curb 
abuses will not also destroy what is useful.  We understand that the 
International Trademark Association's Internet Committee supports Motion 2 as 
well.

William M. Borchard
Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, P.C.
1133 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10036
Tel:  (212) 790-9290
Fax: (212) 575-0671
Email:  wmb@xxxxxxx
Web:  http://www.cll.com