WIPO Internet Domain Name Process

Report: Brussels regional consultation

On February 17, 1999, a one-day regional consultation within the framework of the WIPO Internet Domain Name Process was held in Brussels. The meeting was organized with the support of the European Commission. The aim of the meeting was to allow all interested parties from the business and trademark, Internet engineering, and public interest communities to express their views on the draft recommendations proposed by WIPO in its Interim Report of December 23, 1998. These views will be taken into account by WIPO as a basis for the formulation of its Final Report to be issued in March 1999.

The meeting was attended on behalf of WIPO by Francis Gurry, Legal Counsel, and David Muls, Senior Legal Officer, Electronic Commerce Section, Office of Legal and Organization Affairs. The panel of experts was represented by Michael Froomkin (Professor, University of Miami School of Law), Ousmane Kane (Executive Director, African Regional Centre for Technology (ARCT)), Boudewijn Nederkoorn (Former Chairman, RIPE CENTR ), Mark Partridge (Member, Board of Directors, American Intellectual Property Law Association), and Philip Sbarbaro (Chief Litigation Counsel, Network Solutions, Inc.).

Opening remarks were presented by Marianne Gumælius, Principal Administrator, DG XV E2 European Commission.,

The presentations and open discussions covered the four main topics to be addressed by the Internet Domain Name Process: practices designed to minimize conflicts, dispute resolution, protection of famous and well-known marks, and introduction of new gTLDs. The table below lists those who made presentations or interventions during the course of the meeting. Issues that attracted particular attention were the need for domain name applicants to provide contact details and the impact of the European Directive of October 24, 1995¹ on the public availability of these data, the relationship between the proposed administrative dispute resolution procedure and the national judicial systems, the need for an administrative (rather than a quasi-judicial) system for the exclusion of famous and well-known marks, and the introduction of differentiation in gTLDs as a means of resolving the problems currently encountered.

A recording was made of the proceedings and a transcript is available.

[1] See Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data.

Speakers