Re[2]: [ga] New TLD Agreements

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

Hello Marilyn,

Thursday, March 01, 2001, 5:24:27 AM, Cade,Marilyn S - LGA wrote:

> Actually, I think you are mistaken about the assumption that legitimate
> businesses wouldnt' go to court to protect their trademarks.  They have no
> choice but to protect their trademarks from infringement, misuse, etc. 

> I think that you would find that legitimate businesses would indeed have
> taken many, if not all, of these cases to court.  The UDRP was devised, and
> provides a low cost ability for someone engaged in a dispute, on either
> side, to use a more cost effective, and shorter route to a decision.  Legal
> redress remains an option, should either party be dissatisfied with the
> outcome.

Many many of these cases, Marilyn, would never have gone to court
simply because the UDRP give them a greater "right" to takes these
names than the law gives them.  The UDRP standards are vastly lower
than the standards that the law allows, and many of these cases would
never have gone to court simply because those companies know that no
court in the land would give them the result that the UDRP would.

The fact is that under the UDRP the burden of proof is shifted from
the plaintiff to the defendant.  The defendant must prove their case,
and the defendant is the one who has to go to the high expense of
filing a court case in order to prevent the reverse hijacking of their
domain name on grounds that no court would have permitted to happen.

The UDRP ENCOURAGES these cases, and is heavily slanted in favor of
the plaintiff in these cases, in fact the arbitration panels have a
predisposition to the plaintiff simply because the plaintiff is the
one who gets to shop the forum.

Anyone, and I mean ANYONE, who claims that the UDRP is a fair and
legitimate process is either blinding themselves to the facts, or has
a definite bias which is making them present the facts in an incorrect
manner.

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


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