Hi folks, On Thu, Apr 6, 2017 at 11:55 AM, J. Scott Evans <jsevans@adobe.com> wrote:
Let’s all pause here. It seems that George and those in his “camp” believe that (and feel free to correct me if I am wrong) that Sunrise is not balanced (or “unfair”) because it gives the owner of a trademark a preemptive veto to us of the domain, even for non-infringing uses. If that is the case, could we not require the registrars to have a policy for allowing a third party with a legitimate use to get the string subject to the Sunrise registration provided they make a case that their use is non-infringing. Of course, any such process would require the third party to agree that if the use became infringing that the owner of the original Sunrise could take back the domain. If we could come up with this type system (which I believe Donuts uses in its DPML system) wouldn’t that get to the root of the concern (that is, provided I have accurately articulated the concern).
We don't have to "come up with this type of system" -- killing the Sunrise period would achieve this *today*, because: (1) The domain name registration agreement *already* mandates the above. See Section 3.7.7.9 of: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/approved-with-specs-2013-09-17-en "3.7.7.9 The Registered Name Holder shall represent that, to the best of the Registered Name Holder's knowledge and belief, neither the registration of the Registered Name nor the manner in which it is directly or indirectly used infringes the legal rights of any third party." unless you're suggesting that each prospective registrant needs to provide more than that representation to "make a case" (in your words). Fees for domain name registrations would have to go up considerably, and registrars would need a process to vet who is "worthy" and who is illegitimate, and presumably a challenge/appeal mechanism for that vetting too? and, (2) As for "Of course, any such process would require the third party to agree that if the use became infringing that the owner of the original Sunrise could take back the domain" --- we already have something called the UDRP for that, or the courts, which every registrant agrees to as well, so that any TM owner (TMCH recordal or not) can challenge alleged misuse of a domain name. Sincerely, George Kirikos 416-588-0269 http://www.leap.com/