[gnso-rpm-wg] Action Items, Slides and Notes from the Working Group call held earlier today

[George Kirikos]

Hi folks,

On Thu, Apr 6, 2017 at 11:55 AM, J. Scott Evans <jsevans at adobe.com> wrote:
> Let’s all pause here. It seems that George and those in his “camp” believe that (and feel free to correct me if I am wrong) that Sunrise is not balanced (or “unfair”) because it gives the owner of a trademark a preemptive veto to us of the domain, even for non-infringing uses. If that is the case, could we not require the registrars to have a policy for allowing a third party with a legitimate use to get the string subject to the Sunrise registration provided they make a case that their use is non-infringing. Of course, any such process would require the third party to agree that if the use became infringing that the owner of the original Sunrise could take back the domain. If we could come up with this type system (which I believe Donuts uses in its DPML system) wouldn’t that get to the root of the concern (that is, provided I have accurately articulated the concern).

We don't have to "come up with this type of system" -- killing the
Sunrise period would achieve this *today*, because:

(1) The domain name registration agreement *already* mandates the
above. See Section 3.7.7.9 of:

https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/approved-with-specs-2013-09-17-en

"3.7.7.9 The Registered Name Holder shall represent that, to the best
of the Registered Name Holder's knowledge and belief, neither the
registration of the Registered Name nor the manner in which it is
directly or indirectly used infringes the legal rights of any third
party."

unless you're suggesting that each prospective registrant needs to
provide more than that representation to "make a case" (in your
words). Fees for domain name registrations would have to go up
considerably, and registrars would need a process to vet who is
"worthy" and who is illegitimate, and presumably a challenge/appeal
mechanism for that vetting too?

and,

(2) As for "Of course, any such process would require the third party
to agree that if the use became infringing that the owner of the
original Sunrise could take back the domain" --- we already have
something called the UDRP for that, or the courts, which every
registrant agrees to as well, so that any TM owner (TMCH recordal or
not) can challenge alleged misuse of a domain name.

Sincerely,

George Kirikos
416-588-0269
http://www.leap.com/