ICANN Responds to GAC

[Adam Peake]

Just passing on what I hear, not presenting opinions.


>  > -----Original Message-----
>>  Quite a few governments, usually developing country, don't entirely
>>  trust the processes involved: they've seen names of products and culture
>>  trademarked by people in the North, used in dot com (for
>>  example) second level names, and there's a concern the same will happen
>>  with new gTLDs.
>
>Ah, so we should establish intergovernmental committee to decide who
>has the proper right to use words.
>It's obvious, e.g., that that motorcycle company never should have
>been able to name their product the "Indian," we should instead have
>spent 5-10 years debating at the GAC who is divinely ordained to use
>that term - would it be the South Asian country (and which part,
>which agency) or the native Americans (and which tribe? Gosh!)?
>
>Call me crazy, but I think language and other forms of symbolic
>expression are pretty much in the public domain except for that
>narrow class of identifiers that are protected for consumer
>protection/fraud purposes. And yes, many times that means people get
>to call themselves, or their websites by names they may not be the
>world's most deserving of, simply because they got there first.



An example I've heard is Kikoi/Kikoy, a type of traditional Kenyan
cloth.  UK company tried to trademark the name.  Happens all the
time.  Very expensive, annoying, etc to challenge. It's not
particular to ICANN and the DNS, everything from culture to
traditional medicines.  And "sorry you didn't get there first"
doesn't seem to make people happy. I wonder why...



>  > Why should they pay to protect something connected with national
>>  sovereignty? They won't be making challenges for personal (individual or
>>  corporate) gain, but for citizens.
>
>Can you tell me more about how names are connected with national sovereignty?
>Do I need permission from the US to label my business United States
>Widgets? Do I need permission from France to sell French Fries? Can
>you point me to the international law that says only the Peruvian
>government has a legal right to register the name "Peru" in the
>domain name space?
>
>>  Most govt do not have a budget line for making a payment of this kind to
>>  a private sector organization.
>
>Really now? I wonder how they fly to meetings. Do they claim a
>sovereign right to seat 23 A?


Not sure your example's relevant.  I don't understand govt budgets so
won't try to make up an answer. But if a room full of government
reps, developed and developing country, say we do not have a budget
line for this kind of payment, I think a good idea to take what they
say at face value.


>  > And many really don't want to pay a private US corporation, particularly
>>  given ICANN's odd international status.  Matter of principle.
>
>What principle would that be?


  ? ? ?

Adam