[Gnso-igo-ingo-crp] Additional comment on IPC position re: arbitration, etc.

[George Kirikos]

Hi folks,

Happy Easter.

I was going through my notes, and neglected to make a comment last
week during our telephone call (I had written it down several weeks
ago, on a different piece of paper!).

With regards to arbitration, I find it doubtful that if an IGO had a
dispute with a holder of a US trademark (i.e. whether that trademark
had been granted properly, or conflicted with the IGO's alleged
rights), that the IPC position would be that US trademark owners
should be forced to give up *their* rights to due process via their
national courts, and instead be compelled to go before a binding
international arbitration.

Given that the USPTO hasn't created any special process for IGOs to
challenge the validity of a US registered trademark, we shouldn't be
doing the same in the domain name space. Presumably the US government
position would be the same as that of the UNIFEM matter -- i.e.
availability of court action fulfills their Article 6ter treaty
obligations.

Sincerely,

George Kirikos
416-588-0269
http://www.leap.com/