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[ga] names and acronyms of IGOs
Thomas,
Having noted your comments on the ALAC discussion list with respect to names
and acronyms of IGOs, I would draw your attention to an earlier submission on
this same subject (June 15, 2001) tendered by the Non-Commercial Constituency
cited at http://wipo2.wipo.int/process2/rfc/rfc3/comments/msg00094.html
Excerpt:
B. WIPO’s Proposals to Ban the Use of the Names and Acronyms of International
Governmental Organizations is Contrary to Law and Public Policy.
In the WIPO2 proposals, WIPO proposes banning the registration and use of
International Governmental Organizations (IGOs) as names and acronyms in
existing and future gTLDs:
123. It is recommended that the names of IGOs protected under the Paris
Convention and the TRIPS Agreement should be excluded from registration in
all existing open gTLDs, as well as in all new gTLDs.
This extraordinary proposal means that an IGO such as the World Health
Organization would have a superior right to the common three letter
combination, WHO, over any other user. Such a scope of protection exceeds any
found under existing law, and invades clearly protected areas of
noncommercial use.
In the world today, the World Health Organization cannot stop the dynamic use
of "who" in common speech whether by a rock group (The WHO), by reporters
(Who? What? Where? When? Why?), by science fiction fans (Dr. Who), or by
children (Horton Hears a Who, by Dr. Suess). Further, these real world uses
should extend seamlessly unto the Internet and allow current and future users
to express these ideas in domain names and websites. Thus, we envision
www.who.rock, www.who.writing, www.who.scifi, and www.who.suess in future
gTLDs. These are legitimate users, not uses in bad faith.
Similarly, the Internet Chamber of Commerce (www.icc.org), peacefully
coexists with the International Computing Centre (also ICC). That’s a fact of
language and its normal and natural redundancies, not any proof of bad faith.
Action and Alternatives for IGOs
Are there alternatives? Of course! At the WIPO Consultation in Washington DC
on May 29, 2001, the U.S. Small Business Administration noted the use of
"SBA" in many other instances. See for example, Southern Bakers Association
at www.sba.org, and Smith, Bucklin & Associates at www.sba.com. Rather than
seeing such use as bad faith, the SBA attorneys applauded it as part of the
robust nature of language and the Internet. They assured WIPO that other uses
of "sba" online did not keep the public from finding the official Small
Business Administration website at WWW.SBA.GOV.
As an alternative to the WIPO2 proposals, SBA attorneys urged WIPO and IGOs
to use the trump card handed to them by the current domain name system -- the
.INT international top level domain. This top level domain exists expressly
for the United Nations and its supporting organizations, including IGOs. SBA
attorneys stated that the lack of knowledge about the .INT domain name can be
easily solved -- by using it! They said that the more UN organizations
register their names and acronyms under .INT, the faster the public will know
to find them there.
The Noncommercial Community supports the US Small Business Administration
proposal that IGOs use .INT and not force massive exclusions under gTLDs that
will create scarcity and eliminate normal and good faith use. As part of its
final report to ICANN, we urge WIPO to carefully review the domain name
registrations allowed under .INT, and the broad scope of IGOs and other
United Nations sub-groups. WIPO should propose to ICANN the expansion of
the.INT definition, to include the full range of names and acronyms to
accommodate the array of United Nations activity on the Internet today.
--
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