Re: [lac-discuss-en] [At-Large] - Price caps - was: The Case for Regulatory Capture at ICANN | Review Signal Blog
- To: Evan Leibovitch <evan@xxxxxxxxx>
- Subject: Re: [lac-discuss-en] [At-Large] - Price caps - was: The Case for Regulatory Capture at ICANN | Review Signal Blog
- From: John More via lac-discuss-en <lac-discuss-en@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2019 11:48:11 -0400 If I may kick over the chess board... What underlies just about all these problems is the very notion that one can register a domain name and not put it to use yet still retain rights. You can't go to the USPTO or WIPO and just register clever strings and expect protection for them, e.g., sell them on the market, sue infringers, etc. Fundamental to trademark protection is that they are used in commerce. You have to provide evidence of use in commerce to tm orgs when you register, and on each renewal. And your rights can be terminated if someone can show the mark represents no good or service. That's a much higher bar than "bad faith". Even ICANN's Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) requires this evidence to tie your trademark to certain domain rights -- if nothing else consider that an existence proof before countering that it would be too difficult, we do it now. 250+ years of experience told the tm orgs one has to do that or else we'd have what the domain system has now, a non-stop landrush for strings and a demand that other entities (e.g., ICANN via UDRP/URS, courts, etc) should expend whatever resources necessary to protect these string rights. Why? Because, and this touches on Evan's points, at the root (ahem) of trademark rights are consumer protections, not rights in ownership. The latter are a result. The purpose of a tm is to protect a consumer so they know when they buy a box of Acme Soap it is highly likely to be a product of the Acme Soap company and anything else is civil and/or criminal fraud. We came close to this concept with secure websites and certificates etc. but it's somewhat tangential, more like the holograms Microsoft et al puts on their optical media and similar (e.g., license activation.) Instead ICANN has created effectively a type of fiat currency -- perhaps an economics historian can help me focus that term -- but an abstract object with speculative value even absent any actual usage. It's worse than that since currency generally has the same value w/in a type (e.g., each US dollar is worth about the same) whereas every single domain string is subject to individual valuation. And every single domain name represents a type of monopoly on that string whereas, e.g., any US dollar (or Euro, whatever) is as good as any other. Namespaces are not new or unique. Telephone numbers, postal addresses, national identification numbers, personal names (go ahead try to launch a singing career calling yourself Beyonce or Sting), etc. IANA manages hundreds of them such as MAC addresses for your wi-fi and ethernet devices. The problem here goes very deep and trying to patch it up with price controls etc really is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, putting lipstick on the pig, closing the barn door after the horse is long gone, whatever. And the idea that trademark orgs like WIPO or USPTO could hold back "premium" trademarks and charge much higher prices as we allow registries to do is laughable self-dealing idiocy. This entire structure smacks so much of the foxes guarding the henhouse that to be honest it is a chilling indictment of the very concept of "multi-stakeholderism". The emperors really have no clothes. Which is to say no legal and moral structure other than whatever serves the participants' own selfish interests which amounts to who shows up at a table for a vote. Perhaps someone with better economics history credentials can explain what a bad corner this industry has painted itself into and why a few reforms here and there probably won't fix it. Right now, to me, it all resembles the sort of structure tinpot dictators and their corrupt cronies devise. I realize people desperately like to think better of themselves. All ICANN say is: Sorry! If the shoe fits... -- -Barry Shein Software Tool & Die | bzs@xxxxxxxxxxxx | http://www.TheWorld.com Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: +1 617-STD-WRLD | 800-THE-WRLD The World: Since 1989 | A Public Information Utility | *oo* _______________________________________________ At-Large mailing list At-Large@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/at-large At-Large Official Site: http://atlarge.icann.org _______________________________________________ By submitting your personal data, you consent to the processing of your personal data for purposes of subscribing to this mailing list accordance with the ICANN Privacy Policy (https://www.icann.org/privacy/policy) and the website Terms of Service (https://www.icann.org/privacy/tos). 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