[comments-wgb] Sunrise Provision

["Candido, Domna" <candido@MajorLeagueBaseball.com>]

I am writing on behalf of the following Major League Baseball entities: the
Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, the American League, the National
League, Major League Baseball Properties, Inc., and the owners of the thirty
Major League Baseball clubs, including Anaheim Angels, Baltimore Orioles,
Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Kansas
City Royals, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Seattle
Mariners, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Arizona
Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado
Rockies, Florida Marlins, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee
Brewers, Montreal Expos, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh
Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres, and San Francisco Giants.
The Major League Baseball entities comprise the premier brand of
professional baseball worldwide and own internationally famous trademarks. 

The Major League Baseball entities support a Sunrise proposal that would
provide trademark owners the mechanism to protect their valuable trademarks
upon the introduction of new TLDs.  Under the current system with the
existing TLDs, trademark infringement, dilution and cybersquatting
activities on the Internet are rampant, causing consumer confusion and
forcing trademark owners, including the Major League Baseball entities, to
expend considerable resources to enforce their trademark rights and protect
the significant goodwill symbolized by these trademarks.   The
cybersquatting activities often involve a  demand for payment from the
legitimate trademark owner, offers to sell the domain names to third
parties, using the domain names as part of e-mail services to attract
advertising revenue and creating an objectionable association between the
trademarks and pornography by using, pointing or linking the domain names to
pornographic sites.  Although the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy and the
Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act provide some relief from
unauthorized uses of trademarks on the Internet, a mechanism such as the
Sunrise proposal would go a long way toward eliminating the flood of
cybersquatters that will surface with the introduction of the new TLDs and
the inevitable confusion of consumers and damage to the rightful trademarks
owners.


Domna L. Candido
Intellectual Property Counsel
Major League Baseball Properties, Inc.