They are all expert at Truth avoidance.The USPTO and DOC have avoided telling
the Truth since first communicated with them.
I have never received a complete
answer.
This is small part from fax sent 10 July 2000 to USPTO (fourth since 19
June):
I asked about you communications to ICANN:
1. Did you inform them that
they would have to including the classification (or sub class) in the domain name,
as they are likely to cause consumer confusion if they do not? See the many cases
for example.
2. Did you inform them that they would have to including the country
of TM in the domain name, as they are likely to cause consumer confusion if they
do not? Example Domino.com is a UK company, and also not a pizza business.
3.
As you well know, many businesses share the same trademark name in different classes.
Also potentially thousands more may use the same name in different countries. Many
of those with the same goods or services. Did you not warn ICANN, that for just ONE
company to be known by that ONE name worldwide would be unfair to ALL the other holders
of that name?
You are doing nothing, permitting one company name to dominate the
Internet, sanctioning the misuse of trademarks for anti-competitive purposes. This
is UNLAWFUL activity.
*******************
This is the reply in full. As you can
see - they start as they continued - and avoided the question.
Dear Mr. Anderson:
This
is in response to your inquiry regarding trademarks, the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), and ICANN's Uniform Dispute-Resolution Policy
(UDRP).
On July 1, 1997, as part of the Administration's Framework for Global Electronic
Commerce, the President instructed the Secretary of Commerce to privatize the Domain
Name System (DNS) in a manner that increased competition and facilitated international
participation in its management. On June 5, 1998, the National Telecommunications
and Information Administration (NTIA), an agency within the Department of Commerce,
issued the "Statement of Policy on the Management of Internet Names and Addresses"
(the "White Paper"). All of the Department of Commerce press releases relating to
this Statement, including information regarding requests for public comments, are
available from the NTIA website.
As you know, Uniform Resource Locators (URLs)
and generic top-level domain names (gTLDs) are not "registered" at the United States
Patent and Trademark Office.
The World Intellectual Property Organization's report
titled "The Management of Internet Names and Addresses: Intellectual Property Issues"
(the "Final Report"), is available at http://wipo2.wipo.int.
We trust that the
information above if fully responsive to your inquiry.
Sincerely,
Eleanor
K. Meltzer
Attorney-Advisor
Office of Legislative and International Affairs
*******************
I
am still waiting for Secretary Evans to answer this simple question:
Is identifier,
like ®, class & country ESSENTIAL to identify trademarks on the Internet?
If not
- how else can they all be made unique and totally distinctive, as the LAW requires
trademarks to be?
If not - how else can the public be warned and advised that the
mark is legally registered and protected in law?