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[process2-comments] RFC-1


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[process2-comments] RFC-1


To: process.mail@wipo.int
Subject: [process2-comments] RFC-1
From: jalagna@uia.net
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 00:17:33 +0200


 Name: Joe Alagna Organization: Individual Position: Internet Citizen Something wrong is going on here. It seems to me that most of this is driven by who has the most money. Under "Personal Names", who's personal name is important? Virgin Records beat me to alagna.com because they wanted control of the artist Roberto Alagna's last name online. I am ok with that. They beat me. I wonder if it would be the same if I had beat them. Recent WIPO decisions would seem to favor the rich. So lets not disguise our motives by listing just "personal names". The only listing that should be considered are the personal names of the rich and famous. Is that fair? Who should decide? I'm not sure, but I'm suspicious. Sorry. INNs for Pharmaceuticals? What would be next? generic names for financial services to be reserved for the largest financial services firms who comprise their association membership? Why is the pharmaceutical industry even getting this special consideration? Why not the financial services industry or the auto industry, or the real estate industry or any other industry? Or do the largest players in their markets get their turn once this precedent is set? In the area of Geographical indications... When did this begin? Businesses have used the names of cities, towns, and streets for years as part of their monikers. Now are they to give the rights to those names up to the government? Where the heck is this all going? What happened with Barcelona.com is a travesty of injustice. Spain has it's own ccTLD, (.es). Why did they not restrict that to the cities and principalities like was done in the US? The only appropriate issue to consider here is the rights to Trademarked names in following with all of the case law and precedent on record. As soon as WIPO begins to rule on specific industries and geographies, we will have opened a bag of worms that will kill the usefulness of the Internet and create nothing more than a confusing morass of conflict and legal entanglement. The Internet is a medium for communication and needs to remain just that. ICANN and WIPO need to get out of the business of segmentation legalism, and favoritism. Leave that to the courts. Sincerely, Joe Alagna ICANN Member at Large & Internet Citizen jalagna@uia.net