[wg-b] coca cola

[eileen kent <eileenk@enteract.com>]

Way back in the seventies I was traveling the wide world and I drank coca
cola in every country I visited. It was familiar and a reminder of home.  I
bought a coke somewhere in the Grand Duchy of Fenwick* and it turned out
not to be a coke. It was brown sweetened water of some kind. I didn't buy
any more cokes in the GDF. If all the tourists decided not to drink coke in
the Grand Duchy that probably wouldn't be a good thing for the economy.
The Internet should not be a third world country. The Internet should
protect its citizens as much as possible from fraud and misrepresentation.
Like it or not, people relate to brands for various and sundry reasons. If
they get "misleadingly directed" from NASA to a porn site it's bad for
everybody--not just NASA.

"Setting up mechanisms to protect the rights mark holders already have" is
a good perspective. 


*The Grand Duchy of Fenwick is the mythical country in "A Mouse that Roared."

At 08:41 AM 9/3/99 +0200, you wrote:
>At 17:16 02.09.99 -0700, Randy Bush wrote:
>
>>to me, a lay person, the idea of protecting 'famous' names seems utterly
>>unfounded.  could someone please explain why the internet should be offering
>>protections to coca cola which go beyond what they currently have in the
law?

>Famous marks are protected by the Paris convention and the TRIPS agrement; 
>international law recognizes them, so it's a question of setting up 
>mechanisms to protect the rights they already have.
>
>However, in the absence of any ruling by any legal body anywhere that a 
>certain trademark is "internationally famous", I think it's preposterous 
>that ICANN or any body associated with it should take on the role of 
>deciding, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY, whether a trademark is 
>"internationally famous" or not.
>
>I think we have an *excellent* excuse for delay and inaction on this issue, 
>and that ICANN should grab that excuse eagerly.
>
>                    Harald
>
>
>--
>Harald Tveit Alvestrand, Maxware, Norway
>Harald.Alvestrand@maxware.no
>
>
>