Comments in Response to the Secretariat's Questionnaire on the Protection of Country Names in the Domain Name System
REPUBLIC OF TURKEY
TURKISH PATENT INSTITUTE
Department of International Affairs
Address:
Necatibey Cad. No:49
06440 Kizilay ANKARA/TURKEY
TEL: (90-312) 232 54 25
Fax: (90-312) 232 54 37
http://www.turkpatent.gov.tr
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
International Bureau
34, Chemin des Colombettes
1211 Geneve 20 (Suisse)
SWITZERLAND
Dear Sir I Madam,
Thank you for your letter dated December 19, 2001, sending us the report of the first special session of the Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) on the Report of the Second WIPO Internet Domain Name Process.
We are sending herewith the answers of questionnaire on the Protection of Country Names in the Domain Name System.
Thank you for your attention.
Selim M. SENGÜN
President
QUESTIONNAIRE
ON THE PROTECTION OF COUNTRY NAMES
IN THE DOMAIN NAME SYSYTEM
(i) How should the name of a country be identified (for example, by reference to the United Nations Terminology Bulletin, lSO Standard 3166, or by some other method) and should both the long and short names of countries be protected?
Names of the countries which are subject to the protection should be identified by international standards and local conventions. Mainly long names of the countries should be protected but short names could also be protected in case of demand for it by the competent authorities of the countries.
(ii) In what languages should country names be protected?
They should be protected in widely used languages of the world like English, French, German; in the original language of the country concerned; and also in the language oh the country the usage of the domain name has an important effect. In case of demand for protection by the competent authorities of the countries, they could be protected in all languages.
(iii) To what domains should any protection be extended (foe example, to all, both existing and future, gTLDs, only to future gTLDs, also to ccTLDs, etc.)?
In case of demand for the protection by the competent authorities of the countries they should be protected in all domains including ccTLDs.
(iv) How should any alleged acquired rights be treated?
A trademark, trade name or other intellectual property rights could be the evidence of acquired rights.
(v) What mechanism should be used to implement protection (for example, the UDRP or some other mechanism) ?
UDRP would be the most effective way which would work by the opposition of competent authorities of the countries.
(vi) Should any protection extend to the exact country name only or also to misleading variations?
It could extent to the misleading variations of the country names.
(vii) Should protection be absolute or should it be dependent upon a showing of bad faith?
It should be absolute for the exact country names and should be dependent upon a showing bad faith for the variations of the country names.