Garry. Think about the complexities of world trade
and law. You have no idea what you're talking about.First, regarding First
Amendment rights. The U.S. Constitution states that the government has the
right to issue patents (trademarks are an extension of the premise). The Constitution
was also designed to protect property rights. Pretty much the same in all countries.
BTW, nothing prevents you from registering a domain name so that you can exercise
your free speech. You can buy a name and put up a site any time you want.
You're whining about your inability to get a very particular name that you wanted.
Sorry, but the Constitution doesn't guarantee you the right to get your way every
time.
Your main contention is that trademarks are sometimes issued for generic
words, which allows the trademark owner to unfairly get the matching domain name.
Your argue that a trademark owner has no more right to use a particular domain name
than anyone else.
Truth is, ever country has different standards in their trademark
laws, and there's no way in hell anyone can reconcile their different practices.
I personally think trademarks are a decent but flawed way to do things, and that
it's a crock when a corporation uses that to get a name like "cat.info".
But I have not seen a better system proposed. Nothing in life is completely
fair - get used to it.
Garry, your argument really falls apart when you examine
it. For example, in your world, who would decide whether a word is "generic"
or not? Would you prefer a panel go through the entire dictionary and decide
what is generic and what is not? ANd on top of that, a word can be generic
in one language but not in another. You want to discriminate against someone
because of their language or country? All of the above would be not only unfair,
but a huge waste of time and money.
Also, trademarks are only treated specially
in the .biz and .info sunrise periods. Of the many eligible trademark owners,
only some claimed their names. In other words, lots of good generics were taken,
but it could have been worse. There were lots of good names available in public
regsitration, and I got some.
You link to http://wipo.org.uk/ to support your statements.
That's a silly page with silly arguments. It claims that Afilias is squatting
on "search.info" for example. How is that squatting? Yes there are many
people who own trademarks on the word "search". So you're saying that those
trademark owners should have priority claim over "search.info" instead? In
one swoop you've gone from claiming that genric names should be open to anyone to
claiming that trademark owners should have priority.
Q.E.D. Pull your head out
of your bum.