Comments in Response to the Secretariat's Questionnaire on the Protection of Country Names in the Domain Name System
WIPO Questionnaire on the Protection of Country Names
in the Domain Name System
Answer from Japan
May 6, 2002
1. Introduction
1. The Government of Japan recognizes that the basic principle for information and communication society should be considered in order to find an answer to the question whether country names in the DNS should be protected by making international rules.
2. Therefore, we should have much more time to discuss in WIPO since we have just started the discussion on this matter.
3. We also believe that it is extremely important to keep in touch with the Governmental Advisory Committee in ICANN, a non-profit organization that also deals this matter.
4. In line with the above mentioned, we provide the following answers to the questionnaires.
5. However, this submission does not necessarily prejudice our future position on this matter.
2. Answers
(i) How should the name of a country be identified (for example, by reference to the United Nations Terminology Bulletin, ISO Standard, or by some other method) and should both the long and short names be protected?
(Answer)
Names listed in the list of ISO3166-1 should be protected.
(ii) In what languages should country names be protected?
(Answer)
Country names should be protected in the following language,
(i) English
It should be protected on the basis of ISO3166-1 in English (e.g. Japan).
and
(ii) each countrys language(s)
It should be protected on the declarations of each government and public authority of the distinct economy as recognized in international fora in its language(s), spelled with its characters (e.g.日本) and with alphabet (e.g. Nippon).
(iii) To what domains should any protection be extended (for example, to all, both existing and future, gTLDs, only to future gTLDs, also to ccTLDs, etc.)?
(Answer)
The future gTLDs should be the object of protection.
As for ccTLDs, the scope of protection should be left at the disposal of relevant internal internet community of each country.
(iv) How should any alleged acquired rights be treated?
(Answer)
Any country names, which have been already registered and used as domain names, should be permitted or accepted to be used as the domain names continuously.
(v) What mechanism should be used to implement protection? (for example, the UDRP or some other mechanism)?
(Answer)
The domain names protected as country names (see(ii)) should in principle be reserved for each government and public authority (see(ii)) under the registration policy of each Registry Operator.
(vi) Should any protection extend to the exact country name only or also to misleading variations?
(Answer)
Only correct country names (see(ii)) should be protected. If misleading variations such as spelling errors are included in the object of protection, the number of notations to be protected will increase excessively.
(vii) Should protection be absolute or should it be dependent upon a showing of bad faith?
(Answer)
The protection of country names (see(ii)) should be absolute so as to avoid disorder.