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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>Dear Douglas,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>I am leaving the example so that we can address it when the time will come. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>I fully agree that the time is not now, and <b>out of respect for the people involved I never chased it further by posting a reply.</b> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>However since it was seen inappropriate without further clarification, here I go:</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>To give you a concrete example to what I was referring (one of the statements quoted by you, belongs to me)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>Diverging Trademark Registrations<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>On 28-09-2001 the Mexican Trademark office <span style='background:lime;mso-highlight:lime'>accepted </span>a word trademark for “economy car rentals” which claims that the trademark is distinctive & well known.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>On 11-08-2005 the Greek Trademark office <span style='background:lime;mso-highlight:lime'>accepted </span>a word trademark for “economy car rentals” which claims that the trademark is distinctive & well known.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>On 29-05-2009 the Brazilian Trademark office <span style='background:lime;mso-highlight:lime'>accepted </span>a word trademark for “economy car rentals” which claims that the trademark is distinctive & well known.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>On 29-11-2005 WIPO <span style='background:yellow;mso-highlight:yellow'>accepted </span>a “logo only” figurative trademark on “economy car rentals”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>On 22-10-2010 an EM European Wide “word” Trademark is </span><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:white;background:red;mso-highlight:red'>rejected</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:white'> </span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>on “economy car rentals” for lack of distinctiveness. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>On 11-04-2009 the US Trademark office <span style='background:yellow;mso-highlight:yellow'>accepted </span>a combined trademark for “economy rent a car” (Combined), so not protecting the actual word<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>On 2011-11-04 the Turkish Trademark office <span style='background:lime;mso-highlight:lime'>accepted </span>a word trademark for “economy car rentals” which claims that the trademark is distinctive & well known.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>On 2014-09-18 an EM European Wide “word” Trademark is </span><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:white;background:red;mso-highlight:red'>rejected</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:white'> </span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>AGAIN on similar grounds & lack of distinctiveness. Same applicant.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>On 2014-09-18 an EM European Wide “figurative / so just the logo” Trademark is <span style='background:yellow;mso-highlight:yellow'>accepted</span> - which again makes perfect sense.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>On 19-09-2014 the Romanian Trademark office </span><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:white;background:red;mso-highlight:red'>rejected</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:white'> </span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>the trademark for lack of distinctiveness<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>Now if I am right, The Mexican, Greek, Brazilian, and Turkish TM office decision is wrong, since the expression is super generic & non-descriptive, as both <i>WIPO</i> and the <i>European Union Intellectual Property Office</i> motivated in their decisions. Thus it could not be considered a word trademark in the first place.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>So if the owner of the <i>economy car rentals</i> trademark can invoke it’s TM rights in an UDRP against the owner of economyrentalcars.com or economy-car-rentals.com let’s say, based on the BR, TR, GR and MX trademarks, then something is probably not right. As far as I am seeing, they are already in court & they will definitely get to this step.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>This was a case which raised my interest a couple of years ago. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><u><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>As a disclaimer I am not a lawyer, and I do not have the enormous experience & legal knowledge which some of the parties involved in our discussion do.<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>I never intended to make an “unsupported allegation”. I was merely asking a question and I do apologize if it felt </span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>inappropriate.</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>Emil<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'><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'> gnso-rpm-wg-bounces@icann.org [mailto:gnso-rpm-wg-bounces@icann.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Doug Isenberg<br><b>Sent:</b> 21 August 2016 20:09<br><b>To:</b> gnso-rpm-wg@icann.org<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [gnso-rpm-wg] Questionable UDRPs & TM applications<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>I am cognizant of Phil’s admonition to refrain from prematurely discussing topics -- but, like Paul and Greg, I do not think it is wise for anyone to leave unsupported allegations unaddressed. So, briefly, I would only add that the numerous broad statements and allegations that have been posted in this thread, without citation to any authority (such as UDRP decisions or statistics) seems inappropriate. For example, none of the following were accompanied by any authority:<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=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:#1F497D'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>“given the *actual* abuse we’re observing”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:#1F497D'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>“folks exploit gaping loopholes in the policy”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:#1F497D'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>“abuse of the procedure by trademark trolls”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:#1F497D'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>“a lot of cases where legitimate SMEs get bullied with the ‘we'll get your domain’ threat based on abusive TM registrations, mostly postdating the domain name registration dates”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:#1F497D'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>“panelists becoming public defenders or engaging in judicial activism to champion no-show respondents”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:#1F497D'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>“the 3 biggest reasons for a respondent default”<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'>And, the one actual domain name dispute that was mentioned (economyrentacar.com and economyrentalcars.com) does not, in fact, appear to be an actual domain name dispute at WIPO, despite the implication that it is or was a real WIPO case.<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'>When the appropriate time comes to discuss these issues, I think we would all be well-served by referring to actual examples, not hypotheticals or general understandings that may or may not have any basis in fact.<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'>Sincerely yours,<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><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 style='border-collapse:collapse'><tr style='height:33.25pt'><td width=149 valign=top style='width:112.1pt;padding:0cm 5.75pt 0cm 0cm;height:33.25pt'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>Douglas M. Isenberg<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>Attorney at Law</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td><td width=216 valign=top style='width:162.0pt;padding:0cm 5.75pt 0cm 0cm;height:33.25pt'><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><a href="http://www.gigalaw.com/"><span style='color:#1F497D;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=200 height=36 style='width:2.0833in;height:.375in' id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01D1FBF2.C1B30F50"></span></a><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></span></p></td></tr><tr><td width=365 colspan=2 valign=top style='width:274.1pt;padding:0cm 5.75pt 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><i><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#B05529'>“When your brand is on the line, The GigaLaw Firm protects your brand online.”</span></i><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#B05529'> Learn more:</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'> <a href="http://www.gigalaw.com/"><span style='color:#0563C1'>www.GigaLaw.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr></table><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>