[comments-wgb] Support for "Sunrise + 20" Proposal

["M.J.P. Deans" <mjpdeans@btinternet.com>]

I am an "at-large" Member of ICANN.  I am a British and European Patent & 
Trademark Attorney operating as a sole practitioner.  I am also a Trademark 
owner in my own right.

My local clients are exclusively small businesses.  Each is busy trying to 
build its own reputation.  Such businesses are constantly concerned about 
their expenses.  The last thing they want is to find that the Trademark or 
Service Mark under which they conduct their business has been pre-empted as 
a Domain Name by an unscrupulous rival or by a cybersquatter, which is 
exactly what may be expected frequently to happen if new gTLDs are 
introduced in an uncontrolled fashion.  These are not problems exclusively 
experienced by large companies with their globally famous marks.  It is the 
smaller company with a small but growing reputation, and that can ill 
afford the costs of UDRP procedures - and even less, litigation - that may 
be the most vulnerable and likely to be most adversely affected by 
uncontrolled introduction of new gTLDs.

I have read the "Sunrise + 20" Proposal.  It seems to me that this 
represents the best chance for my clients to avoid the worst of the 
problems they fear, and I urge ICANN to adopt it in the interests of all 
legitimate users of the Internet.  I cannot see how anyone whose motives 
are honest and fair will have anything to fear from adoption of this 
proposal, and small businesses in particular - such as those I represent - 
have much to gain, whereas an Initiative that only gave protection for 
globally famous marks would leave such businesses entirely exposed.

Regards
Michael Deans