RE: [wg-b] Reality checks [the grateful dead(hits)]

["Hartman, Steve" <HartmanS@Nabisco.com>]

I believe it is reasonable to exclude those domain names that contain the
string "oreo," the string is not part of another word (eg, choreography) and
the domain name does not immediately and directly communicate a clear
message. On that basis, I would exclude all of the domain names listed
below. None of the domain names cited, in my view, have a communicative
value greater than the potential for confusion or mistake or misuse. I do
not accept the slippery slope argument. That does not mean that there are
domain names that are "hard cases, " but they can and should be handled on
an individual basis, probably by the courts, precisely because they are
close cases that require careful balancing of rights.

Steve Hartman
Nabisco, Inc.


> -----Original Message-----
> From:	erony@marin.k12.ca.us [SMTP:erony@marin.k12.ca.us]
> Sent:	Tuesday, December 14, 1999 11:44 AM
> To:	wg-b@dnso.org
> Cc:	Hartman, Steve
> Subject:	RE: [wg-b] Reality checks [the grateful dead(hits)]
> 
> Steve Hartman wrote:
> 
> >I am not sure of the point you are making. Obviously, if oreo.com is
> >excluded, then so should oreos.com and other non-material variants. I
> don't
> >consider the line between ihateoreos.com, on the one hand, and oreo.com
> and
> >its non-material variants to difficult to draw.
> 
> You are describing both extremes of the spectrum, but what about those
> variants that are less obvious?   MyOreos? iOreos?  Oreos2K?  Oreos4us?
> OreosNMore?  PlanetOreos?  It's a slippery slope.
> 
> Take a look at the Porsche suit to see a list of variants (129 of them)
> that the trademark owner thought should be excluded.  It includes
> PorscheBank and PorscheLynn (an adult movie star).
> 
> Or the suit filed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences which
> listed theoscars.com as one of the domain names it challenged.  Would that
> be "the Oscars" or Theo's Cars?
> 
> Indeed, a slippery slope.
> 
> 
> Ellen Rony                                                       Co-author
> The Domain Name Handbook         ____        http://www.domainhandbook.com
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> erony@marin.k12.ca.us            W   W                         Tiburon, CA
>                Dot com is the Pig Latin of the Information Age.
>