browse comments: WIPO RFC-1

WIPO RFC-1
tom_barrett@thomson-thomson.com
Thu, 20 Aug 1998 19:19:56 -0400

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Thomson & Thomson
500 Victory Road
North Quincy, MA 02171

August 20, 1998

Mr. Christopher Gibson
World Intellectual Property Organization
34 chemin des Colombettes
P O Box 18
1211 Geneva 20
Switzerland

Re: Request for Comments on Terms of Reference, Procedures and Timetable for the WIPO Internet Domain Name Process

Dear Mr. Gibson,

Thomson & Thomson (T&T) welcomes WIPO's emerging role in resolving the conflicts between trademarks and domain names.

Domain Names were originally intended to be word-based equivalents to web addresses. However, current reality is that they are also used as brand names by consumers to navigate to companies and services on the internet. The difference in nomenclature between trademarks and domain names however has caused the conflicts being addressed by this RFC today.

T&T believes that the conflict between trademarks and domain names is best solved by a new nomenclature for the internet that allows identical trademarks across industries to co-exist. As one of the largest technology firms specializing in serving the trademark industry, T&T is prepared to contribute considerable technical expertise and content towards this solution. Other required changes involve evolution of the physical DNS infrastructure as well as the business practices used by companies in selecting their internet identities.

The ultimate solution will require the cooperation of many organizations, ranging from WIPO, to the future IANA, to private industry interests. T&T looks forward to participating and contributing towards the solution of this problem.

Draft Terms of Reference

We believe WIPO has done a thorough job of documenting the issues and possible approaches to Dispute Resolution. The area where we feel more attention is warranted is in the area of Dispute Prevention.

In particular, we feel that there should be more discussion focused on tools to aid in the selection, screening and clearing of new web domain names. For example:

· Recommendations on the selection of new domain names to avoid causing confusion among target consumers, including depth of similarities to be examined and geographic reach of data searched.

· Additional information provided at time of application to provide context of potential domain name use.

· Potential "waiting periods" for new applications to allow for an orderly process of opposition and pre-dispute resolution practices.

Proposed Procedures

It is not clear what criteria WIPO plans to employ in the selection of the panel of experts to help develop recommendations for internet domain names.

Timetable

Certainly time-is-of-essence and WIPO is proposing an accelerated schedule for building consensus. WIPO should recognize that private industry interests will be moving ahead just as fast with independent solutions of their own. The WIPO process will want to continually evaluate and consider the incorporation of elements of these independent solutions into their final recommendations.

Sincerely,

Thomas Barrett
Vice President
Thomson & Thomson

 -- Posted automatically from Process Web site