Re: [ga] UDRP Questionnaire

["Roberto Gaetano" <ga_list@hotmail.com>]

Sotiris,

>So if MADONNA.COM is "a mnemonic way to reach a "thing" that has an 
>Internet
>address" why does the popstar have some kind of claim to ownership of the
>domain?  Or how about the BARCELONA.COM domain?  I'm sorry Roberto, but 
>your
>response is a little too simplistic, almost naive.  If I were to ask you 
>what
>"gold" was would you tell me it was just a yellow metal?


It is indeed simplistic.
To follow up in your example, to the "what is gold" question I would answer 
that it is the element of atomic number 79 in Mendeleev's periodic table of 
elements. That's what chemically characterizes gold: the fact that people 
can kill for it is super-structural, and depends from the socio-cultural 
environment, not from the nature of "gold".

Going back to "what is a domain name" I maintain that it is just a string of 
chars that allows you to point to an internet address. The fact that some 
people have attached super-structural values does not change the nature of 
the internet domain name, just its attributes.

Let's take another example: postage stamps.
They are the proof of payment for a service that allows (physical) mail to 
be routed via the snail-mail system.
This definition will not take into account the exceptional value that some 
stamps might have for philatelists. But still, this is not the point.
If to send a parcel you need stamps for a value of 20 pounds, you cannot use 
the world famous "Penny Black" (face value 1 penny) with the justification 
that its value on the philatelic market is more than 20 pounds: the Royal 
Mail will refuse the parcel (as would the US Mail, I suppose).

This is somethink of key importance for the UDRP or whatever IP policy the 
DNSO should endorse: the economic value of (some) domain names is accessory 
and cannot interfere with the primary purpose, which is an alias for an 
internet address.
Corollary (for instance): if somebody is for long enough a "bona fide" user 
of a domain name on which somebody else claims IP rights, it should not be 
automatic that the owner of the name (and "user" of the name for its primary 
purpose, i.e. to point to an internet "thing") shall relinquish the name. 
IMHO, his/her rights, being "primary", are superior to the "accessory" value 
of the name as identification of a business, or vanity.

Naive indeed, as you point out, nevertheless my opinion on the subject.

>
>Labels in assembler programs mean specifically whatever the programmer 
>assigns
>to them... in the case of domain names, where is the programmer who defines
>their signification?  Isn't the original registrant the arbiter of meaning 
>as a
>domain name's creator?


Exactly.
The registrant chooses the name (among the available combinations, as domain 
names have to be unique as labels in programs).

Regards
Roberto


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