[CWG-Stewardship] ICG request concerning IANA trademark and iana.org domain name

[Greg Shatan]

A neutral repository _might_ be appropriate for copyrights or patents; it's
not appropriate for a trademark, which by definition is not "neutral."  It
represents the entity from which the services are provided.  Even when used
by a licensee, the owner/licensor is considered to be the origin of the
licensee's goods and services (thus the requirement of active approval and
quality control of a licensee's processes and output, as well as the use of
their mark).

I'll stick with my earlier suggestion that a group should collaborate to
develop a common understanding of the facts, rather than cite certain facts
for the purpose of advocacy.  I'd also like to identify issues and work
together to resolve them, rather than try work through this solely in
advocacy mode.

It was in that spirit that I stated that we do not know whether the IETF
Trust has the ability to take on the duties of a trademark owner.  I did
not assert that they lacked that capacity, only that it is an unknown.
That said, we cannot rely on an unknown.  (I would also note that the IETF
Trust is not the IETF; rather it is a trust set up for the benefit of the
IETF. To the extent that the Trust is not seen as a legal entity, the
trustees (not IETF) would be seen as the owner of the trust's assets.)

I think I've already responded to the other point here (recognizing that
the email was a response to Avri), so I'll stop here.

Greg

On Sun, Jun 21, 2015 at 10:54 AM, Milton L Mueller <mueller at syr.edu> wrote:

> > -----Original Message-----
> >
> > Milton, since you are insisting so much from a Names perspective that we
> > agree to transfer this from ICANN to the IETT Trust, I would like to
> > understand what advantage you see for the Names commuity in this from
> > the CWG perspective. I understand why you might take the position you do
>
> That's a fair request and a fairly easy one to answer. In two words the
> answer is 'enhanced separability.' I've said this before so perhaps you
> need a better explanation.
>
> The mixture of policy making and implementation functions within one
> names-centric organization (ICANN) has been recognized as problematic. One
> of the key principles underlying the current reforms is that the IFO for
> names should be separate from the policy maker, and further that the
> current IFO should not have a permanent monopoly. We should be able to
> switch to a new names IFO if justified. And numbers and protocols already
> have this arrangement. If you want the capacity to switch, then the current
> IFO cannot control or own the IPR associated with IANA; they are users of
> the IPR not its owners. That, I suggest, is the correct model for the names
> community.
>
> If we want to consistently implement the basic model that the Internet
> community as a whole recognizes as proper (RFC 7500) we cannot have the
> names-related policy making entity - which is also an IFO for all 3
> communities at the moment - hold the trademarks that need to be used by all
> three communities and which may need to be used by different IFOs. The IETF
> trust is a neutral repository for this IPR that allows the rights to be
> assigned to any IFO as needed.
>
> > Also I think you misinterpret the IANAPLAN position.  They say they are
> > willing.  They do not request the move.
>
> 'Willingness' means that their proposal is compatible with the numbers
> proposal. CWG's is not. There's no way around the fact that CWG names has
> worked without regard to what the other two communities proposed, and that
> its proposal is out of step. That by itself does not mean it's wrong, but
> it does suggest that we _first_ need to think of changing what randomly
> made its way into our proposal rather than forcing two other communities to
> change. No one has advanced a good reason why a names community entity
> should control it all. The idea that IETF Trust cannot defend or monitor
> the trademark is a mere assertion for which there is no concrete evidence,
> and flies in the face of the fact that the source and origin of the IANA
> registries is the IETF, not ICANN.
>
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