[council] More information on protection of names of International InterGovernmental Organisations (IGOs) from WIPO

[Bruce Tonkin]

-----Original Message-----
From: Christian Wichard
Sent: Wednesday, 5 April 2006 7:56 PM
To: Bruce Tonkin
Subject: WIPO-2

Dear Bruce,

I read the transcript of the ICANN Public Forum last week and saw that
you were unclear about the legal basis for the protection of names and
acronyms of IGOs.  As Richard Hill mentioned in his intervention at the
Forum, there is quite an explicit legal basis in Article 6ter of the
Paris Convention, an international Treaty that dates back to 1883 and,
among other things, also forms the basis for the international
protection of trademarks. Its provisions have been incorporated into the
TRIPS Agreements which forms part of the WTO.  Hence, any member of the
WTO is required to comply with these provisions.  

I understand that it may be hard to follow all legal intricacies.  You
may wish to take a look at the WIPO Briefing Note which we had prepared
in response to a request from ICANN.  On pages 2-4 it contains a brief
summary of the relevant legal issues, and on page 5 addresses the need
for providing such protection in the DNS.  The Note and attachments are
available on ICANN's web site at
http://www.icann.org/committees/JWGW2/WIPO2-note.pdf
http://www.icann.org/committees/JWGW2/WIPO2-note-annexes.pdf 

Both issues, i.e. the legal basis as well as the need for protection,
have also be addressed in a letter from the UN Legal Advisers to ICANN
which is posted at http://arbiter.wipo.int/processes/process2/letter.pdf


I hope that you will find this helpful.  Please let me know if you have
any further questions in this regard.

With best regards,
Christian

   

Christian Wichard
Deputy Director
WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center


--------------------------------------------------
The WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center is an international provider
of non-profit services for the out-of-court resolution of commercial
disputes. The Center specializes in cases arising out of technology and
intellectual property transactions, such as licensing, R&D and
distribution agreements.

WIPO arbitration and mediation contract clauses:
http://arbiter.wipo.int/arbitration/contract-clauses
WIPO Internet domain name dispute resolution:
http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains