Re: [council] GAC and country name reservations

["Erica Roberts" <erica.roberts@bigpond.com>]

Thank you for this Tony.

I guess our difficulty is that the GAC is not proposing any rules or procedures which would clarify exactly what names or strings they are trying to protect nor are they proposing any  rules for establishing who has rights to what names or strings.   Obviously WIPO felt they could not resolve these issues and it is now up to the GAC to propose a resolution.  So far, they have not done this. 

 

I therefore suggest we note the GAC communique expressing concern about the use of geo/policitcal names as domain names and seek further information about the method for determining which names are and, just as importantly,  are not subject of concern; and the process the GAC proposes for determining who has the rights to use such names as domain names.  This is a problem that WIPO was unable to resolve and I have serious doubts that the GAC will be able to do any better than WIPO.

 

Regards,

erica

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Antonio Harris

To: Philip Sheppard ; NC (list)

Sent: Saturday, October 06, 2001 3:37 AM

Subject: RE: [council] GAC and country name reservations

Philip,

 

I would like to add a comment to this discussion,

since WIPO has been mentioned. In the "REPORT

OF THE SECOND WIPO INTERNET DOMAIN

PROCESS", item 288, the following is stated:

 

"288. It is recommended that the question of the

protection in the gTLDs of country names and

the names of administratively recognized regions

and municipalities be further considered in the

appropriate intergovernmental fora, in particular

with a view to a discussion on the need for new

international rules for the protection of country

names."

 

Effectively WIPO through the ball to the GAC.

 

Regards

 

Tony Harris

----- Mensaje original -----

De: Philip Sheppard

Para: NC (list)

Enviado: Lunes 24 de Septiembre de 2001 11:56

Asunto: [council] GAC and country name reservations

In a communiqué made by the Government Advisory Council at its Montevideo meeting http://www.icann.org/committees/gac/communique-09sep01.htm "the GAC recommends that the names of countries and distinct economies, particularly those contained in the ISO 3166-1 standard, as applied by ICANN in identifying ccTLDs, should be reserved by the .info Registry, (or if registered in the Sunrise Period challenged by the Registry and, if successful, then reserved) in Latin characters in their official language(s) and in English and assigned to the corresponding governments and public authorities, at their request, for use. These names in other IDN character sets should be reserved in the same way as soon as they become available"

In the same communiqué the GAC further "draws the attention of ICANN and the Registries to the fact that a large number of other names, including administrative sub-divisions of countries and distinct economies as recognised in international fora, may give rise to contested registrations. Accordingly the GAC recommends that Registrars and eventual Registrants should be made aware of this".

---------------------------------------

I believe that the NC should issue a statement about this and ask you to consult in your constituencies rapidly. I currently propose that we could consider:

- urging caution on the GAC in taking this step,

- point out that dot info is but the start of a TLD expansion and something much more interesting for countries could be possible

- propose that WIPO is the best place for discussion on geographical names.

 

Comments please.

Philip

NC Chair