Re: [ga] Interesting WIPO ruling re: NewZealand.biz

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com>]

Rodrigo and all assembly members or other interested parties,

Rodrigo Orenday Serrato wrote:

> Generics per se cannot be registered as trademarks, at least not under
> Mexican, French nor German trademark law, in their present state.

  That may be true for those countries.  It is not true in the US and Canada
for instance.  Hence this is a jurisdictional issue, not a global one.  Hence
this argument is not sufficiently binding or even persuasive...

> There is
> an IP specialist here who declared to the press that he beleives that we
> should forget about domain names altogether and go back to IP addresses, but
> I don't agree with that.

  Well some IP specialists, are kooks.  Whomever this one is, would qualify
as such.  Hence, I usually discount those sorts of ideas accordingly.

>
>
> However, an argument I sustained in my professional thesis on the regulation
> of domain names in Mexico is the following:
>
> 1. Mexican trade & service mark and copyright laws are of public interest,
> and they forbid the appropriation of generic terms, amongst others.

  This may be fine for Mexico.  It isn't fine for the US and Canada, amongst
a host of other countries.  Hence, again a jurisdictional bias or issue.

>
> 2. The Federal Civil Code sets forth that acts which contravene public
> interest laws shall be null.

  I would agree with this, if and only if such public interests are determined
directly by the public.  However in most instances this is not the case.
Therefore, such a precept is skewed accordingly.

>
> 3. The registration of generics as domain names consists in an appropriation
> of said terms, thus it contravenes the aforesaid laws.

  This is a circular argument that cannot and will not stand.  In a number
of countries it does not stand now.  I can't see how it would stand as
an international standard or best practice either.

>
> 4. Consequently, said registrations are null.
>
> IP specialists here seem to agree. Constructive and reasonable comments on
> the foregoing are wellcome.

  Again, which IP specialists, and whom gave them the right of such a
determination?

>
>
> Atentamente, Regards
> Rodrigo Orenday Serratos
>
> -----Mensaje original-----
> De: John Berryhill Ph.D. J.D. [mailto:john@johnberryhill.com]
> Enviado el: Jueves, 10 de Octubre de 2002 03:00 PM
> Para: rorenday@banxico.org.mx; ppoblete@nic.cl
> CC: 'Andy Gardner'; ga@dnso.org
> Asunto: Re: [ga] Interesting WIPO ruling re: NewZealand.biz
>
> >
> > One of the biggest problems that I find in domain names is that the
> > registration of those which include generic names and terms commonly used,
> > like the name of a country, is not banned, unlike trade and service marks.
>
> This is the first time I've seen someone arguing that there should be a ban
> on generic and common terms AND trademarks.
>
> That leaves few other choices, but maybe we should just ban registering
> domain names entirely.
>
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Regards,
--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup - (Over 127k members/stakeholders strong!)
CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng/SR. Java/CORBA Development Eng.
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E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
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