Hi folks, On Thu, Apr 6, 2017 at 4:19 AM, Beckham, Brian <brian.beckham@wipo.int> wrote:
Finally, since the chart references the EFF letter, it is worth mentioning here that the fact that a trademark owner may pay (sometimes extremely high amounts) to defensively register a domain name exactly matching its trademark in a Sunrise process (and thereby taking it “off the market”) does not prevent free expression, which may be undertaken in countless other ways. The number of terms that may be appended to a trademark (not to mention typos) to engage in all manner of speech – fair or otherwise – is, practically-speaking, all but limitless.
By that "logic", the number of terms that may be appended to a common dictionary word (not to mention typos) to create a trademarkable brand is, practically-speaking, all but limitless. :-) In other words, those creating a new brand/trademark certainly had the opportunity to create a longer (and thus inferior) alternative to a commonly used dictionary word or other common term. The fact that they decided instead to choose a common term that is widely used by the public shouldn't give them any priority access in a launch of a new gTLD. "I created a problem for myself, and I want ICANN to fix it" is the essence of the sunrise argument for commonly used terms, like dictionary words and short acronyms. Sincerely, George Kirikos 416-588-0269 http://www.leap.com/