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

[Gary Osbourne <gro@direct.ca>]

At 09:53 PM 29/07/02 -0400, Dan Steinberg wrote:

>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.

Agreed, except...

>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.

Agreed, except it is considerably more 'exclusive'.
Prior to the WLS one could never be sure of having
the single slot that *would* get the domain if it
dropped, with the WLS they will.

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

OK, to reiterate, a squatter, to use your example,
signs up for daimlerchrysler.com and gets the slot.

He then finds a person named Daimler Chrysler and
sells that slot to them. That person also has rights
to the name, and if the automaker let the name drop,
that could be used as evidence they no longer wanted
it. My use of your example is silly of course, but
what about Ford.com? Dodge.com? And what about if
the squatter gets one of the latter slots and then
offers it to some of the scores of non-automakers
out there who also hold that trademarked name and
can claim rights to it?

While those examples aren't quite as silly, they
still aren't the best ones. The squatters may well
be more likely to go after somewhat less high
profile but still trademarked names. What about if
the original owner and trademark holder never
actually used it, which isn't that hard to check,
and then someone else registers it with some
claim to the name, trademark or otherwise? Is it
then a slam dunk they'd get it back under the
UDRP or the courts? If so, OK, no need for
concern I suppose, but don't think for a minute
some enterprising squatters won't try that or
other wrinkles.

And while I think about it, perhaps a name
registration and a slot aren't that different.
If I register but don't use a domain name that
might be a trademark, its just an entry in a
database, an intent to use that may never be
used.

If I get that WLS slot, it's just an entry in
a database, an intent to use that may never be
used. If it actually does drop, through error
or whatever (and there is no shortage of such
examples), then it presumably could be used,
for a pr0n site, say, for a month or two until
the original registrant gets it back. I'm rather
surprised the IP folks are neutral about this.

So perhaps they're not that different, except
that the latter database won't be public.
Hey, just another squatter selling point. -g


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