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Comment: Protection of Country Names in the Domain Name System

Comments in Response to the Secretariat's Questionnaire on the Protection of Country Names in the Domain Name System


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF UKRAINE
STATE DEPARTMENT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
8, Lvivska Ploscha, Kyiv-53, 04655 MSP, Ukraine
Tel (380-44) 212-50-82 Fax: (380-44) 212-34-49 --

World Intellectual Property Organization
34, chemin des Colombettes,
1211 Geneve 20,
Suisse
Fax (41-22) 733 5428

 

February 26, 2002

Referring to the letter of the International Bureau of the WIPO of December 19, 2001, C.6635 concerning 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 please find enclosed the comments on the questionnaire on the Protection of Country Names in the Domain Name System.

Looking forward to further cooperation.

Sincerely yours,
Mykola Paladiy
Chairman

Encl.: Comments on the Questionnaire, 2 pages.


 

Comments on the questions regarding the protection of country names in the
Domain Name System

(i) How should the name of a country be identified (for example, by reference to the United Nations Terminology Bulletin, ISO Standard 3166, or by some other method) and should both long and short names of countries be protected?

Comments: In Ukraine while registering top-level national domains names (gTLDs) the country name is identified by reference to the ISO Standard 3166 (".ua" for Ukraine). In the second-level of domain names the country name is identified by reference to the United Nations Terminology Bulletin. Both long and short names of countries should be protected.

 

(ii) In what languages should country names be protected?

Comments: Country names should be protected in English or in transliteration by Roman letters. Consequently we consider that WIPO ( or determined by WIPO authority) might constitute the countries list that will provide the English variant of countries name and transliteration by Roman letters (by submission of each country). General rules of transliteration also should be framed. Administrators of domain names should keep to these rules in domain names registration.

 

(iii) To what domains should any protection be extended (for example, to all, both existing and future, g1LDs, only to future g1LDs, also to cc1LDs, etc.)?

Comments: The protection should be extended to both existing and future domains, and at least to gTLDs. The protection of the second-level domains identical and similar to existent country names, trademarks, geographical indications and trade names also is important.

 

(iv) How should any alleged acquired rights be treated?

Comments: According to the "Rules of domain .UA " domain .UA is a public domain. A domain name is not the property law object. Terms and conditions of the domain names delegating are determined on the contract basis.

 

(v) What mechanism should be used to implement protection (for example, the UDRP or some other mechanism)?

Comments: A general procedure of disputes resolution that is provided by the national legislation may be used for domain name disputes resolution. However, at parties' will the UDPR may be used.

 

(vi) Should any protection extend to the exact country name only or also to misleading variations?

Comments: The protection should be extended to the registered domain names. With the purpose of excluding the registration of domain names with misleading variations of country names administrators of domain names should follow the countries name list that is proposed in (ii).

 

(vii) Should protection be absolute or should it be dependent upon a showing of bad faith?

Comments: The protection must be absolute irrespective of bad faith.


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