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Username: cambler
Date/Time: Thu, October 26, 2000 at 11:34 PM GMT (Thu, October 26, 2000 at 4:34 PM PDT)
Browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer V5.5 using Windows 98
Score: 5
Subject: What breach of copyright?

Message: 		 

 
Sir, what breach of copyright are you spaking about? Certainly not of those who have registered in our system, as there is quite a lot of legal precident in this area. Indeed, in no case has NSI been held liable (nor IANA or ICANN) as a result of a registration in .com. Your legal argument on this point fails as it does in the IOD v. CORE case, which merely resolved that there are no trademark rights in a top-level domain. That applies to CORE as much as it applies to IOD, as CORE's trademark application was denied as well.

These legal argument aside, however, two facts remain. First, the applications must be judged on their merits. If that is done, the question to be asked is, "can this applicant successfully run a registry?" If the answer is yes for more than one applicant, then the second fact of prior use must come into play. IOD began registry operations in 1996 as a part of the original IANA process, at the request of IANA. It was not done in a vacuum. The 11th-hour applications by Afilias and Melbourne IT are nothing more than a thinly disguised attempt by established players to increase their market share at the expense of the pioneer in this area.

Your conerns are valid, but misplaced. The legal issues are irrelevant, as the court found that they have no bearing on the process. In this case, I might even personally venture that the court case's dismissal benefits us all in that it removes trademark concerns from the allocation of new TLDs.

Finally, if a registrant of IOD's has infringed upon your trademark (interestingly, you neglect to provide your affiliation, your trademark, or the identity of the "many others" who will cause the "massive costs" you speak of), you will be pleased to note that IOD has adopted the UDRP, which is ICANN's preferred method of trademark dispute resolution. Please feel free to file a UDRP action, at which time we would be pleased to abide by its decision.

Do let me know if I can clear anything else up for you.

Christopher Ambler
 

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