2009/11/9 Alan Greenberg <alan.greenberg@mcgill.ca>
Thanks.
It will be sustainable if: 1) there are sufficient mark holders that are interested in its service at fees that will sustain it AND 2) there are sufficient new gTLDs going live to need its services.
3) The system implements a pricing regime that is at least based on cost recovery. This may be assumed but I wonder... the price cannot be set too low so to please mark holders, and must reflect the true cost of mark holders. If mark holders want to lobby governments and WIPO for subsidy, that's their business, but we can't keep the price of registration/maintenance artificially low. As for concerns about sustainability, I would think that you couldn't have a clearinghouse without recurring maintenance fees. Given that TMs need to be continually seerted/defended to stay live, it seems only reasonable that all entries in the clearinghouse require periodic renewal. If renewal fees are pricved to reflect cost recovery, sustainability need not be an issue. - Evan