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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><a name="_MailEndCompose"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>That paraphrasing of the reasoning makes it seem like the experts are entirely shirking their duty as independent neutrals, and are making the String Similarity Objection completely superfluous/useless.<o:p></o:p></span></a></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Andy can you send copies of the decisions please? Or are they posted somewhere?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Thanks,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Mike<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Mike Rodenbaugh<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>RODENBAUGH LAW<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Tel/Fax: +1.415.738.8087<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://rodenbaugh.com"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#0563C1'>http://rodenbaugh.com</span></a><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> owner-bc-gnso@icann.org [mailto:owner-bc-gnso@icann.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>J. Scott Evans<br><b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, August 13, 2013 4:22 PM<br><b>To:</b> abrams@google.com; sdelbianco@netchoice.org<br><b>Cc:</b> bc-gnso@icann.org<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [bc-gnso] BC comment on singular plural<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0><tr><td valign=top style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal>Ridiculous.<br><br>Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPhone<o:p></o:p></p></td></tr></table><div id="_origMsg_"><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div><div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><hr size=1 width="100%" align=center></span></div><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>From: </span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Andy Abrams <</span><a href="mailto:abrams@google.com"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>abrams@google.com</span></a><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>>; <br><b>To: </b>Steve DelBianco <</span><a href="mailto:sdelbianco@netchoice.org"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>sdelbianco@netchoice.org</span></a><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>>; <br><b>Cc: </b>bc - GNSO list <</span><a href="mailto:bc-gnso@icann.org"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>bc-gnso@icann.org</span></a><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>>; <br><b>Subject: </b>Re: [bc-gnso] BC comment on singular plural <br><b>Sent: </b>Tue, Aug 13, 2013 11:08:58 PM <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 style='border-collapse:collapse'><tr><td valign=top style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><div><p class=MsoNormal>Update: the first singular-plural decisions have come in.<span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> Both singular-plural decisions have gone <i>against </i></span><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>a finding of string confusion (our car/cars objection against Donuts, and a Hotel Top-Level-Domain S.a.r.l. v. Booking.com B.V. for hotel/hotels). In the car/cars decision, the Panel stated: "It is true that <o:p></o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>the ICANN visual similarity standards appear quite narrow, but it is not the role [of] this Panel to substitute for ICANN’s expert technical findings." In the hotel/hotels decision, the Panel similarly stated: "I find persuasive the degrees of similarity or dissimilarity between the strings by use of the String Similarity Assessment Tool, that ICANN did not put the applications for .HOTEL and .HOTELS in the same contention set." In other words, the early results suggest that the ICDR may give complete deference to ICANN's earlier refusal to essentially find any instances of string confusion, no matter how close the strings.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Andy<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>On Thu, Apr 11, 2013 at 12:50 AM, Steve DelBianco <<a href="javascript:return" target="_blank">sdelbianco@netchoice.org</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt'><div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Here's what we just told the Board at the Public Forum, on behalf of the BC<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>ICANN’s String Similarity Panel was to place into contention sets any strings that create a possibility of user confusion.</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> </span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>But in late February ICANN published contention sets that did NOT include 24 pairs of singular-plural forms of the same string (English and Spanish) Sport(s) Loan(s) Web(s) Game(s) Hotel(es)</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> </span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Risks of allowing both singular and plural TLDs for the same word are <u>well understood</u>.</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>-confusion</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>-precedent for the <i>next</i> round</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>-ICANN looking pretty ridiculous</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> </span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>What’s <u>not understood</u> is how it happened and what we can do about it.</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> </span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>First response is to ask if the panelist follow GNSO Policy on confusingly similar.</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> </span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Second response is “Chong” ( Chinese for “Do-over” )</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>-Do-over on just these 24 pairs </span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>- WIPO Mediation Rules, Article 1 says, “Words used in the singular include the plural and vice versa, as the context may require.”</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> </span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Guess we could correct the Guidebook (plurals <u>are</u> confusingly similar)</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> </span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>String Confusion Objections on 7 of these pairs are in the hands of the ICDR rightnow. If ICSR does the right thing and finds these pairs <u>should</u> be contention sets, The Board can apply this rule to ALL 24 pairs </span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> </span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Failing that, there’s Formal Reconsideration. </span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> </span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>We all worry about threat from inter-governmental groups just waiting for ICANN to stumble.</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> </span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>We have enough vulnerability to stumble with so many unknowns in the new gTLD launch.</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> </span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>No need to add to our vulnerability with this self-inflicted wound</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote></div><p class=MsoNormal><br><br clear=all><o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal>-- <br><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Andy Abrams | Trademark Counsel<br></span><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#3333FF'>G</span></b><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:red'>o</span></b><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#FFCC00'>o</span></b><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#3333FF'>g</span></b><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#33CC00'>l</span></b><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:red'>e</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'> | 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043<o:p></o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><a href="https://www.google.com/voice#phones" target="_blank" title="Go to phones"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black;text-decoration:none'>(650) 669-8752</span></a><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></td></tr></table><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div></div></div></body></html>