WIPO Internet Domain Name Process

Report: Washington regional consultation

On March 10, 1999, a one-day regional consultation within the framework of the WIPO Internet Domain Name Process was held in Washington, D.C. The meeting was organized with the support of the United States Department of Commerce. The aim of the meeting was

to allow all interested parties from the business, trademark, Internet and public interest communities to express their views on the draft recommendations proposed by WIPO in its Interim Report of December 23, 1998. These views will be taken into account by WIPO as a basis for the formulation of its final Report to be issued in April 1999.

The meeting was attended on behalf of WIPO by Francis Gurry, Assistant Director General and Legal Counsel, and Christopher Gibson, Head, Electronic Commerce Section, Office of Legal and Organization Affairs. The panel of experts was represented by Santiago Bustamente (President, ASIPI); Michael Froomkin (Professor, University of Miami School of Law), Don Heath (Preseident, Internet Society), Ousmane Kane (Executive Director, African Regional Centre for Technology (ARCT)), Mark Partridge (Member, Board of Directors, American Intellectual Property Law Association), and Philip Sbarbaro (Chief Litigation Counsel, Network Solutions, Inc.).

Opening remarks were presented by J. Beckwith Burr, Associate Administrator, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, United States Government, and Mr. Gurry.

The presentations and open discussions covered the four main topics to be addressed by the Internet Domain Name Process: practices designed to minimize conflicts between domain names and intellectual property rights, uniform dispute resolution procedures, the protection of famous and well-known marks, and the potential impact on intellectual property from the introduction of new gTLDs. Issues that attracted particular attention were the need for domain name applicants to provide contact details and conterveiling privacy concerns, the potential impact of an administrative dispute resolution procedure on small businesses, and the possible problems associated with the introduction of differentiation in gTLDs as a means of resolving the problems currently encountered.

The table below lists those who made presentations or interventions during the course of the meeting. A recording was made of the proceedings and the audio archive, as well as the transcript, are available on this web site.

Speakers