browse comments: WIPO RFC-2

WIPO RFC-2
volkmar.bonn@erls.siemens.de
Mon, 2 Nov 1998 05:33:16 -0500

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The following remarks are made with respect to the list of measures in WIPO RFC-2:

Measures to mitigate warehousing of names (14.5) are desirable indeed. Nevertheless any measures against warehousing must regard the legitimate interests especially of major companies in a huge set of domain names.

There is no doubt that solutions must be found for the temporary coexistence of domain names or intellectual property rights of different owners. Gateway pages as mentioned in 14.8 may be one solution. Before establishing a gateway page system rules must be found regarding the questions who is -legally - in charge for the gateway page and who is in charge for the costs.

It is very important to define the conditions for the suspension of a domain name registration as proposed in 16.9. Such a suspension can be implemented automatically, by decision of an authority or only with the consent of the parties. The suspension can be for a certain period of time or without limitation. These measures have a direct impact on 16.12. The damage of a suspension of a domain name registration can be very high for instance when an introduction of a new product into the market which is mainly internet based is delayed or blocked. The question by whom these costs are shared depends on the way a suspension is established. Nevertheless the measures themselves should not contain any rules concerning the reimbursement of monetary damages.

In any case any measures especially as proposed in 16.2. and 16.9 should take care of a quick dispute resolution as the highest aim.

With regard to 16.3. dispute resolution approaches should not be restricted to cases involving cyberpiracy. There is a clear jurisdiction concerning cyberpiracy in several countries and dispute resolution approaches are regarded more necessary for conflicts between bona fide parties with legitimate competing rights. It is very important to develope rules for such conflicts especially with respect to the questions whether to adopt existing rules concerning the similarity of trademarks or products or to implement new rules taking care of the special conditions of the internet.

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