As I just pointed out in a prior email, the exercise of In Rem jurisdiction still requires some party related to the domain (registry or registrar) to be subject to US jurisdiction. So unless a nation has its ccTLD operated by a US-based entity, and unless a ccTLD registrant has opted to use a US-based registrar, this is a non-issue for ccTLDs.

 

Also, as I pointed out, this In Rem jurisdiction is completely independent of ICANN’s incorporation and even its existence.

 

Philip S. Corwin, Founding Principal

Virtualaw LLC

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From: ws2-jurisdiction-bounces@icann.org [mailto:ws2-jurisdiction-bounces@icann.org] On Behalf Of Mueller, Milton L
Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2017 10:39 AM
To: ws2-jurisdiction@icann.org
Subject: Re: [Ws2-jurisdiction] [EXTERNAL] Re: ISSUE: In rem Jurisdiction over ccTLDs

 

Yes, Becky this is correct, ACPA is an anti-cybersquatting law for trademark protection and was written with second-level domains in mind.

I guess it is possible that a gTLD would be subject to ACPA – but if and only if someone managed to cybersquat a trademark in the TLD level. And since ICANN’s TLD awarding process is so heavily biased toward trademark owners, it is unlikely that a TM-violating TLD (say, giving .IBM to Parminder) would ever happen. But if it did, I supposed it could be applied. I can’t see how it could ever be applied to a ccTLD.

 

From: ws2-jurisdiction-bounces@icann.org [mailto:ws2-jurisdiction-bounces@icann.org] On Behalf Of Burr, Becky via Ws2-jurisdiction
Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2017 7:02 PM
To: Jorge.Cancio@bakom.admin.ch; jordan@internetnz.net.nz; thiago.jardim@itamaraty.gov.br; ws2-jurisdiction@icann.org
Subject: Re: [Ws2-jurisdiction] [EXTERNAL] Re: ISSUE: In rem Jurisdiction over ccTLDs

 

Fwiw, to the extent that US courts have in rem jurisdiction over domain names, my recollection is that is a function of very specific anti-squatting trademark law and is extremely unlikely to apply to ccTLDs.

 

J. Beckwith Burr
Neustar, Inc. / Deputy General Counsel & Chief Privacy Officer
1775 Pennsylvania Avenue NW DC 20006

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