I believe the 130 is an average per extension Original Message From: George Kirikos Sent: Friday, April 14, 2017 3:38 PM To: Greg Shatan Cc: gnso-rpm-wg@icann.org Subject: Re: [gnso-rpm-wg] A Brave New World Without Sunrises or the TMCH Hello, On Fri, Apr 14, 2017 at 1:01 AM, Greg Shatan <gregshatanipc@gmail.com> wrote:
Anyone who has maintained a trademark and domain name portfolio for a company or a celebrity knows how many abusive domain names there are out there, and how many they have had to acquire (by various means) over the years. A world where there is no need for a company to take a domain name out of circulation, because there was no need to do so is a pipe dream.
We're talking about 130 domains/TLD, in sunrise. The numbers speak for themselves. Use it, or lose it.
I won't speak for Apple (since I don't represent them) but let's talk about a hypothetical "Peach" company. If there was a 100% chance that peach.recipes or peach.menu would only be used for recipes or other good faith unrelated uses, that would be great for many companies. But there's no way to know.
As I said, raise the bar in landrush. Share liability with registrars (who can't escape liability easily). Insurance rates would be higher for "risky" domain name registrants. e.g. the cost for Apple (iPhone maker) to indemnify CSC or Markmonitor to register Apple.TLD would be $0. Cost for John Zuccarini would be much higher, to indemnify his registrar against risk of misuse.
A solution that involves trademark owners spending even more money, and solving every problem by throwing money at the domain name industry, is a non-starter.
They're not spending that money now (130 sunrise registrations, remember). And they're spending perhaps $10MM/yr on TMCH (direct fees, plus time, etc.). Spend smarter, by eliminating the ineffective TMCH that has too many negative consequences upon others.
Based on the discussion earlier, it didn't seem to me that Flowers.tld was "gamed" no matter what the definition of gaming. I didn't dig through the back and forth on hotel.tld. I'm concerned with a lot of the accusations of gaming that were made that didn't seem to hold water as they were examined....
If they relied upon an obscure country's registered TM (let's see the TMCH opened up to check) to register in sunrise, then I (and many others) would disagree. The mantra that "a TM is a TM is a TM" is untrue, despite how often some want to repeat it.
Financial penalties on defaulting respondents is also not going to solve anything, because they will be nowhere to be found.
Read what I proposed more closely. By involving registrars (contracted parties) to share in the liability of landush ("know your client", etc.), someone to pay is much easier to find. (registrars have to have liability insurance in place, too). If folks keep an open mind, and just look at the numbers, it's not as outlandish as you might think. As I noted above, I'd be happy to see new gTLDs keep failing.....but, at least I'm putting forth some ideas that eliminate some of the unfairness in the bad policies that were part of the sausage factory when they were created. Sincerely, George Kirikos 416-588-0269 http://www.leap.com/ _______________________________________________ gnso-rpm-wg mailing list gnso-rpm-wg@icann.org https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/gnso-rpm-wg ________________________________ Confidentiality Notice: This communication constitutes an electronic communication within the meaning of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. Section 2510, and its disclosure is strictly limited to the recipient intended by the sender of this message. This transmission, and any attachments, may contain confidential attorney-client privileged information and attorney work product. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of any of the information contained in or attached to this transmission is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. Please contact us immediately by return e-mail or at 404 815 6500, and destroy the original transmission and its attachments without reading or saving in any manner. ________________________________ ***DISCLAIMER*** Per Treasury Department Circular 230: Any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.