A misconception is that there's such thing as a generic
word that isn't or can't be trademarked. If you search the US Patent Office
online database, you'll find a trademark on almost any common word. Trademark
has alot to do with how the word is used. A trademark is a specific usage,
likewhen used with a logo, or in a particular field. That's how the football
team trademarked the word "Dolphins" - because that's their name, used in a specific
way and often with a logo. If someone's using a name in a field, and no one
else in the field is using it, you could probably register a trademark. Like
Microsoft's trademark on "windows". That also means many people in the same
country can have a trademark on the same word, as long as each is using it differently.
With URLs, only one person can own a word. And all you have to work with
are letters and numbers, no logos or context. And every country has different
trademark laws. The internet is global, so no country's trademark is better
than another. And it means that among all the countries, there are hundreds of thousands
or more people who were eligible for Sunrise names. You start to see the complications.
It
also means that there were a ton of trademark ownders out there who didn't register
their names in afilias sunrise. So all those names were available to get in
landrush. I got a good one, and when the company who shoula gotten it realizes
they are going to kick themselves, yeh!
The whole sunrise thing is a big compromise.
On one hand it makes sense for trademark owners to get first shot at their trademarks
- they can at least prove they have a legal claim, which is a place to start.
I think people got tired of sorting out who owned .com names, when some were misused.
On the other hand, it meant some good "generic" names would be taken by companies
and out of the reach of ordinary people. Some people think the assumptions
that sunrise was based on are fair, some don't. When people went for names
they definitely had no legal claim over, it sure made a bigger mess.