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

George Kirikos icann at leap.com
Thu Mar 15 12:45:43 UTC 2018


Correction, for [2] there was a typo. It should have been:

(2) In light of [B], who are the beneficial owners of NAF, and do they
have any **TIES** 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/




On Thu, Mar 15, 2018 at 8:42 AM, George Kirikos <icann at leap.com> wrote:
> [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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