<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">
Below is an interesting account from yesterday's IRT Report performance in NYC from the IP Constituency.<div><br></div><div>Thanks to Kathy for going and keeping the pressure up on these lobbyists! I watched much of the show over the web (although the question I sent in via remote participation didn't find its way to the floor). </div><div><br></div><div>It was amazing to watch the big brand owners talk about how they are doing all of this to protect consumers and the children. </div><div><br></div><div>And they also seem to sincerely not understand that they don't own language. They seem to believe that having a trademark gives them the right to control language (it doesn't!). </div><div><br></div><div>It is beyond strange that the ICANN policy forum creates policy based on the desires of large IPR holder and not based on the law about those rights -- more evidence that ICANN lacks institutional confidence to govern.</div><div><br></div><div>Was any one who was at the IPC's performance yesterday in NYC have any other observations to share?</div><div><br></div><div>Best,</div><div>Robin</div><div><br><div><a href="http://docs.vrx.net/dns/timeline/20/09/nyc_irt/">http://docs.vrx.net/dns/timeline/20/09/nyc_irt/</a><br> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div><table width="695.0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="width: 695.0px; margin: 0.0px 65.0px 0.0px 64.0px; padding: 2.0px 0.0px 2.0px 0.0px"> <tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" style="width: 689.0px; margin: 0.5px 0.5px 0.5px 0.5px; padding: 0.0px 2.0px 0.0px 2.0px"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: center; "><font face="Arial Black" size="5" style="font: 18.0px Arial Black">July 13 ICANN IRT in NYC</font></div> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <br><table width="695.0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="width: 695.0px; margin: 0.0px 65.0px 0.0px 64.0px; padding: 2.0px 0.0px 2.0px 0.0px"> <tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" style="width: 689.0px; margin: 0.5px 0.5px 0.5px 0.5px; padding: 0.0px 2.0px 0.0px 2.0px"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font face="Arial" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Arial">Today I attended, via a very capable remote using "Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro", an ICANN meeting in New York City. I haven't even looked at anything ICANN for nearly a decade so I thought this would be interesting and fun.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font face="Arial" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Arial">It was both. Having done this stuff since 1996 in one form or another I was curious to see where these guys are at now that the answer to the question "when will we have new TLDs" has changed from "2 years from whenever you ask" to "the next spring after you ask". We're getting closer.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font face="Arial" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Arial">But, the more things change the more things stay the same. The first panelist on the first of three panels was WIPO, and that order, for me set the tone and timbre for the entire event - because in 14 years the discussion about the creation of new top level domains centers around the trademark lobby stroking their chin and saying "hmmm, we'd like to study this (for years)", their stall tactic is at least consistent, and that's all it is. If there's some problem they've got now they haven't had time to look at in the last 14 years then it probably isn't very important!</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font face="Arial" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Arial">After the panelists spoke the floor was opened up in the typical "here's the mike, you've got a couple of minutes" style and people lobbied on many sides of the equation, just as they've done for over a decade. There were of course a number of lawyers telling tales of woe on behalf of big brand owners. The Time Warner guy made a point of saying how all these extra costs were tough in these economic times. Never mind the introduction of new TLDs will probably create 15,000 new jobs and might relieve some of the anti trust pressures around the NSI-ICANN nexus.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font face="Arial" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Arial">A disturbance broke out and security tossed somebody out, it's good to see there are some traditions never change.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font face="Arial" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Arial">Somebody speaking for Hearst media mentioned money they'd had to shell out for legal fees and mentioned some people they'd taken action against because of domain names in an attempt to garner sympathy. But, see, the thing is, he being misleading at best and at worst, he was lying.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font face="Arial" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Arial">John Berryhill was there to call him out on it and was speaking to the issue counter to the one the trademark lobby likes to bring up, which is abusive domain registration, no, John spoke to the opposite, abuses by trademark owners against legitimate domain name use, where they try to game the system to get some domain off some poor unsuspecting sap just because they happen to have a trademark. Recall that trademarks are specific to a class of goods and services in a proscribed geographic area. Delta faucets can't take away Delta airlines domain, because their taps don't infringe on Delta's airplanes - "Nobody turns on a tap to get an airline schedule" and two trademarks with the same name can coexist.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font face="Arial" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Arial">So John listed a few examples of the abuses trademark owners have committed, then referred to the A Hearst media fellow and pointed out that their publication of Esquire magazine doesn't enable them to take away any domain name with the word "esquire" in it, especially not in the case of Frank Schilling, who is is a lawyer and the gentleman named in a suit by Hearst. John defended Franks case and prevailed, which caused Berryhill to say in a rather surly tone "you lost that suit in court, you don't get a second chance here" to Hearst media's stated desire to be able to preempt domains that have any of their trademarks in it, and note that WIPO wants to see this too.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font face="Arial" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Arial">Under that system, Frank Schilling would never have been able to get a domain with the name used by his profession that also happens to be the name of a soft core porn magazine published by Hearst media - Esquire. This is predatory.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font face="Arial" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Arial">Another totally bizarre item was a suggestion that everybody who gets a domain name pays an extra deposit when they buy it, and if they don't abuse a trademark then they get it back later.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font face="Arial" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Arial">I think this is a great idea and the city of New York should do this too, when you visit NYC you should have to pay a deposit which you get back if you don't commit a crime. So much for presumption of innocence and hello Napoleonic law. Isn't this America?</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font face="Arial" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Arial">The back chatter online was amusing, the feed glitched many times, often spectacularly so - windows would bounce around, and one point the audio got mangled and began doing a sort of rap/dj kinda thing - I sort of hoped the windows would start hopping around and that Anthony Van Couvering, would start dancing to the beat as he was appeared to be either agitated or had to pee while on camera standing behind the guy who got to answer questions a the moment.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font face="Arial" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Arial">ICANN has been trying remote participation ever since they started this dog and pony show at Harvard in the Berkman center a decade ago. But In the one or two meetings I participated in ten years ago there was a lot greater attention paid to the online comments.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font face="Arial" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Arial">In this event for each panel a 3 minute (roughly) slice was allocated once per panel (3 in all) and a very small sampling of the questions were articulated. I remember that originally, as ICANN grew in the first year of its life, they tried to alternate between a question from the floor and a question from the online community, but that's been backed of dramatically I see.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font face="Arial" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Arial">The last panel was concerned with scalability issues of the root zone. You know, what happens when you add lots of TLDs to the root zone. Of course they don't know because they've never done that, and deny even the very existence of organizations that have, a case where policy concerning that lofy and oft repeated goal of "stability of the Internet" is being formulated by guesses because the people with real data are a material threat to our authority so we'll just ignore them.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font face="Arial" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Arial">Never mind that any real work addressing the issue of load on the root zone is done at ISC where BIND is maintained in a <a href="http://www.caida.org/funding/dns-itr/yr2_goals.xml"><font color="#002fd7" style="color: #002fd7"><u>study</u></font></a> paid <a href="http://ftp.isc.org/isc/pubs/tn/isc-tn-2006-2.txt"><font color="#002fd7" style="color: #002fd7"><u>for</u></font></a> by <a href="http://ftp.isc.org/isc/dns_perf/ISC-TN-2008-1.html"><font color="#002fd7" style="color: #002fd7"><u>the NSF</u></font></a> or that Denninger of eDNS and Vixie of ISC (who wrote BIND) looked at this exact problem in detail in 1996 and found no issues going up to 10,000 TLDs. How soon they forget. Or haven't bothered to look.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font face="Arial" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Arial">It was fun seeing a lot of old names there, but so many people have dropped out and given up. It did give me an overwhelming sense of deja vu though, as I can't say any amount of substantive dialogue was heard - it's all superficial rehashing of the same thing we've been talking about since 1996 when NSI began charging for domains and Carl Oppedahl ranted on about NSI's horribly "flawed domain name dispute policy".</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font face="Arial" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Arial">This is one case where nostalgia IS what it used to be.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font face="Arial" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Arial">I submitted my two questions which appeared in the queue to be asked, then vanished a short time later never to be heard from again.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; "><font face="Arial" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Arial">Some things just never change. But here are the <a href="http://dns.vrx.net/issues/udrp/cancel/"><font color="#002fd7" style="color: #002fd7"><u>two</u></font></a> <a href="http://dns.vrx.net/issues/disclosure/"><font color="#4f2c80" style="color: #4f2c80"><u>questions</u></font></a> I posed.</font></div> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>IP JUSTICE</div><div>Robin Gross, Executive Director</div><div>1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA 94117 USA</div><div>p: +1-415-553-6261 f: +1-415-462-6451</div><div>w: http://www.ipjustice.org e: robin@ipjustice.org</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> </div><br></div></div></body></html>