[gnso-rpm-wg] RPM March 15 session - questions from George Kirikos

George Kirikos icann at leap.com
Thu Mar 15 12:42:45 UTC 2018


[with the Adobe Connect down, it seems remote participants can only
ask questions via email]

For NAF:

According to:

[A] https://fedsoc.org/commentary/publications/national-arbitration-forum-settlement-with-minnesota-attorney-general

"On July 20, 2009, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson announced
that the country’s largest arbitrator of credit-card and
consumer-collection disputes would no longer handle consumer
arbitrations.

The National Arbitration Forum’s decision to end its
consumer-arbitration business resulted from a settlement it reached
with the State of Minnesota less than a week after Attorney General
Swanson sued the company in Ramsey County, Minnesota, accusing the
company of violating Minnesota’s consumer-fraud,
deceptive-trade-practices, and false-advertising statutes."

[B] https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/minnesota-attorney-general-lawsuit-national-arbitration-forum-1282.php

"The lawsuit claims the NAF, the largest arbitration company in the
United States, violates state consumer fraud and deceptive trade laws
by hiding its financial ties to collection agencies and credit card
companies. The lawsuit also claims the company violates false
advertising laws by misrepresenting themselves as a neutral
organization. "

My questions are: (for NAF)

(1) In light of [A], how do NAF's business practices in handling
domain name disputes differ from those in the consumer-arbitration
business which it left, and how can domain name registrants be
confident that the same abuses which were alleged in consumer
arbitrations are not present in its domain name dispute business?

(2) In light of [B], who are the beneficial owners of NAF, and do they
have any times to the trademark industry, law firms, or anyone else
that might affect its neutrality? In other words, what is the
"Statement of Interest" (SOI) for NAF itself as an organization?

Sincerely,

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

P.S. Further background info at:

https://library.nclc.org/sites/default/files/Arb10_Appx_O-1.pdf
https://www.citizen.org/sites/default/files/arbitrationtrap.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forum_(alternative_dispute_resolution)


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