ICANN Whois public comments

["Jakob Plesner" <JAP@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Sirs
On behalf of IFPI Denmark and the Danish Video Association I shall hereby 
contact you regarding the considerations about changing the Whois policies. For 
your information IFPI Denmark represents the recording industry in Denmark and 
the Danish Video Association represents the Danish video distributors in - 
among others - cases regarding piracy. 
It is our clear recommendation that ICANN uses a broad definition of the Whois 
information (formulation 2). Consequently, the proposed narrow definition 
(formulation 1) of the Whois information would in fact prevent us from 
combating fraud and infringements of intellectual property rights on the 
Internet in Denmark. Thus, we have over the last years made frequently use of 
the Whois information in Danish litigation.
For your information there has been a vast increase of Internet related 
infringements in Denmark (including among others cases of typosquatting and 
cases of copyright infringements on the Internet). Also, the infringements have 
become more professional and systematically.
We rely on the information in the Whois database when we prosecute the 
infringers. If ICANN should choose to implement formulation 1 we would not be 
able to obtain the necessary information of the infringers, which we need in 
order to prosecute the infringers. This would undoubtedly be a severe strike 
against the right holders. 
Moreover, we have seen a number of cases where the infringers have registered 
domain names, which resemble the names of well-known trademarks and companies. 
When the consumers enter these sites the consumers are presented with illegal 
material (e.g. pornographic material) and we have also seen cases where viruses 
are downloaded to the consumers' computers. In these cases we have relied on 
information in the WHOIS database in order to have the illegal activities 
stopped immediately. Therefore, it is not only in the interest of the right 
holders, but also in the interest of the public to have a broad definition of 
the Whois information. 
On behalf of IFPI Denmark and the Danish Video Association - and our other 
business clients - I shall therefore urge ICANN not to adopt formulation 1 and 
instead continue with a broad definition of the WHOIS information.
Kind regards 


Jakob Plesner Mathiasen, Attorney-at-Law, Partner
Johan Schlüter law firm
P.O. Box 867
Sundkrogsgade 9 
2100 Copenhagen Ø
Denmark
phone + 45 3363 9658
mobile + 45 5157 3087
fax: + 45 33 63 96 60
e-mail: jap@xxxxxxxxxxxxx