Re: [ga] FYI: WLS Vote of Transfers Task Force

[Dan Steinberg <synthesis@videotron.ca>]

The thing is...getting a WLS slot does not get you anything real. If you
'get' some 'famousnamedomain' WLS 
and then... the domain expires 
and then... you register the name

then...the TM holder...might take you to UDRP or to the courts. And even
that...would depend on how litigious they feel and whether you are doing
something that they think might have a shot at being deemed something
useful under UDRP or Lanham act or whatever legislation they were in the
jurisdiction to use.

Until you are actuallly... 'at the wheel' of the domain in
question....there really is no TM issue.
For example... I could get the WLS slot for daimlerchrysler.com...is
there a snowball's chance in puerto plata that I would actually get a
chance to infringe? no...of course not.


thats the whole point.  A WLS slot...is not a TM. It's not even a
domain. It's just the chance to get the domain if the domainholder
messes up or abandons. Thasssalll. In fact...its just a slightly more
'exclusive' form...of something that has been going on for a while.
People have been using services to go after domains they are interested
in for a long time.

As for squatters getting there in droves, I fail to see what exactly
they are 'squatting'. Can someone enlighten me?

Gary Osbourne wrote:
> 
> At 05:31 PM 29/07/02 -0400, Dan Steinberg wrote:
> 
> >Every TM specialist who argued for or against the WLS
> >in front of the task force seemed to agree WLS was
> >intellectual property neutral, a position I happen to
> >agree with.
> 
> If that is the case then does that mean TM specialists
> have no rationale for arguing about it at all?
> 
> >So todd, how does creating a WLS or WLS-type service
> >create a new trademark class?
> 
> Not that it does, but it strikes me as strange that
> someone can register a domain name identical or
> confusingly similar to a trademark and lose it via
> the UDRP or the courts even if they never use it
> for anything. OTOH one can sign up for the WLS on
> a trademarked name and one is safe (including
> presumably to sell that slot to others).
> 
> So as has been seen in some recent UDRP cases one
> registers famous names and then finds someone of
> the same name to be its registrant. Or one registers
> a trademarked name and then offers it to the highest
> bidder from amongst those holding that trademark.
> 
> The squatters will be there in droves, looks more
> like a new trademark free class to me. -g

-- 
Dan Steinberg

SYNTHESIS:Law & Technology
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