Hello, On Thu, Oct 30, 2014 at 5:29 AM, Paul Keating <paul@law.es> wrote:
COSTS. Someone has to pay for the process. Just because entities do good things does not remove them from economic reality. Nor does it give us the right to impose a "tax" on someone else to cover the costs that the IGO/INGO does not want to (or perhaps even cannot) pay.
I agree with Paul. IGOs (and governments) pay the same fees as everyone else for domain name registrations in gTLDs (it might be different in some ccTLDs). It becomes a slippery slope when you start to argue certain entities have an entitlement to various things for "free" -- where do you stop? Should their website, hosting, and ISP fees also be "free"? Should their electricity be free? What about their heating and air conditioning? What about their office rent? Paper? Pens? Clothing? Meals? Entertainment? Travel? They also don't receive any discounts on relevant court filing fees when making filings in national courts. I find it odd that these same governments who argue for a 'lost cost" curative rights option for IGOs/INGOs do not provide special treatment for these entities in their national courts. Here's a link to various court fees in Canada's federal court, as an example: http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-98-106/page-190.html#h-25... and in the provincial court of Ontario (in Canada): http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/regs/english/elaws_regs_920293_e.htm You'll note that they make no distinction between different types of parties -- everyone is treated equally. If one looks at that court's fee schedule, the court fees are actually fairly minor, and perhaps even comparable to a UDRP. In my view, the UDRP and the URS costs are already "nominal", especially compared to the fees that lawyers charge. A party to a court case can spend $50,000 or $100,000 on lawyers' bills, but the court fees might only amount to $1,000 in a fully argued case. Sincerely, George Kirikos 416-588-0269 http://www.leap.com/