Re: [ga] Geographic and Geopolitical Names in .info

[Bret Fausett <baf@fausett.com>]

Elisabeth Porteneuve wrote:
> Would you explain why you consider trademarks rights
> more important that countrie's and people's rights ?

One reason you can draw a line between the protection of trademark rights,
which we've already done with the UDRP, and the protection of country names
and personal names is that trademarks are already protected internationally,
in a relatively uniform way, through international treaties. The names of
countries and persons have not enjoyed similar protection.

The Second WIPO report (in sections 65-67, for example) contains a
thoughtful discussion of the need to avoid making new law, as might be
required with the protection of geographic and personal names. It
distinguishes the act of creating new law from applying existing law, as was
putatively done with the UDRP.

In my view, implementing the UDRP but not extending it to geographic and
personal names does not reflect a value judgment that trademark rights are
more important than personal name rights, just the fact that the
international community of nations has come to some documented agreement on
the protections that it will give to trademarks.

     -- Bret

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