People, kindly read this article found at the following URL:http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000710/wr/internames_dc_1.html
Read the second paragraph, and answer the questions, IS IT IN WIPO'S MISSION TO
ESTABLISH THE PARAMETERS FOR WHAT CONSTITUTES A TRADEMARK INFRINGMENT? OR AREN'T
THEY ONLY ARBITERS THATS MISSION IS TO RULE ACCORDING TO EXISTING TM LAW?!!!
I
THOUGHT TRADEMARK LAW ALREADY EXISTED!! IS WIPO TRYING TO REVISE IT?!!
WIPO IS
DEFINITELY OUT OF LINE! WHERE THE HELL ARE THE OFFICIALS TO THRASH THEM BECAUSE OF
THIS?!
______________________________________________________
U.N. Agency Broadens
Fight Against Cybersquatters
By Caroline Drees
GENEVA (Reuters) - Cybersquatters
beware. The World Intellectual Property Organization is launching a new offensive
against people who try to hijack Internet addresses.
While efforts have so far
focused on the misleading use of trademarks in domain names, WIPO said on Monday
it would start consultations on protecting other intellectual property rights such
as trade and personal names and geographic regions.
``In examining personality
rights, geographical indications and (the other areas) we will be embarking on a
more complex, but no less important, legal and policy terrain,'' said Francis Gurry,
assistant director general of the Geneva-based WIPO, a United Nations agency.
The
United States, Australia, the European Union and others had all asked the WIPO to
tackle the problem.
The discussions aim to expand the ability of bodies like the
WIPO to arbitrate in cases of cybersquatting -- when net users register Internet
addresses including famous names or trademarks in the hope of making a fast buck
by selling them ``back.''
WIPO expects to submit a final report to its members
and the Internet community in April 2001. Members must then approve the report before
expanded arbitration capacities can take effect.
Uniform Dispute Procedure:
WIPO
last year helped put in place a Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy which has been
the basis for settling conflicts about trademarks on the Internet since December
1999.
Groups that have evicted cybersquatters through the new procedure include
the World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc, Christian Dior and Nike Inc.
The
approval process for the fast-track procedure took about 18 months, with the backing
of all 175 WIPO members.
Gurry told a news conference that 2,000 cases had already
been filed this year, 800 of them with WIPO.
Arbitrators have 45 days to resolve
a case. If the panel then orders a registrar to transfer a domain name, the affected
party has 10 days to challenge the decision in a competent court agreed by both sides.
But
efforts to stamp out abuse beyond trademarks are tricky because the legal basis is
not as clear.
WIPO will have to address the protection of everyday personal names,
corner-shop trade names and a multitude of geographic indications -- the names of
places that have a product associated with them, such as Roquefort for cheese or
Bordeaux for wine.
``These areas are very complicated legally because, unlike trademarks,
there is slightly less uniformity in the various national approaches to these areas,''
Gurry said.
``When you have greater diversity on the national level, it is more
difficult to find a uniform approach.''
WIPO has already helped actress Julia Roberts
win back her name from a cybersquatter, because the arbitration panel ruled she had
common law trademark rights to her name. Pop star Sting also has a case pending for
the site sting.com.