Re[10]: [ga] Dave: "they are free"

["William X. Walsh" <william@userfriendly.com>]

Hello Christopher,

Sunday, April 15, 2001, 9:09:28 PM, Christopher Ambler wrote:

>> I don't think it would be appropriate the TLD to exist.  The term is
>> too closely associated with a truly famous mark.

> Appropriate?! Sir, this is *technical coordination.* There's no
> "appropriate" involved! You say that trademarks don't matter
> at the top level, and then you say it's not appropriate because
> of one.

> Make up your mind! Do trademarks play a role in the top
> level or don't they? You're going to say that famous marks
> are *specifically prohibited* from the top-level? On what
> grounds?

I am going to say what I said.

Trademark issues are not at the top level.

A Burger is a burger, its a descriptive term.

An inline skate is a generic term.  It is an "appropriate" top level
descriptor.  "Rollerblade" is not, since it is a trademarked term.  It
belongs at the second level.

A registry operator should be REQUIRED to acknowledge a lack of
trademark rights, and/or to assign any such rights without exclusion
with regard to the TLD, to ICANN (in a generic sense, I mean the
"central authority" and ICANN is the only thing we have in that regard
currently) and that if the registry operator is unable OR unwilling to
continue operating the registry or fails to meet ongoing minimum
standards of operation and does not appear likely to be able to
conform within a reasonable period of time, then ICANN assumes the TLD
and assigns it to another operators as custodian until a regular bid
process can result in a new operator being selected./

So if AOL Was willing to meet those terms, and make AOL a generic term
for a descriptive namespace, then sure.  But by the above rules, they
have abandoned any trademark rights or claims.

Trademark issues do not belong at the top level of the domain name
system.

You can stop trying to twist it around, you will not succeed.  This is
really a very simple concept.

End of story, Mr Ambler.

-- 
Best regards,
 William                            mailto:william@userfriendly.com


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