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Re: [wg-c] trademark law & new gTLDs
CONNOLLK@rspab.com wrote:
>
> There is a significant and growing body of federal case law which treats
> domain name registration as sufficiently similar to trademark registration
> that a domain name is treated by analogy to trademark.
Sorry to be a little out of phase with the pace of this discussion, but the
comment above by Kevin Connolly took me by surprise.
To the contrary -- the general direction of case law is the opposite and
judges are:
+ throwing off the proposal of NSI that a domain name was sufficiently
similar to a trademark to warrant suspension without any likelihood of
confusion
+ and replacing it with a requirement that domain name use IN COMMERCE,
for goods and services must be shown -- traditional trademark infringement.
For proof, look no further that the registration policy issued by the US
Patent and Trademark Office (which no one can claim is not savvy to these
issues):
"In order to register an Internet domain name, an applicant must show that it
offers services via the Internet. Further, specimens submitted in support of
the application to show use of the mark must show use of the Internet domain
name as a source identifier. ** The use of an Internet domain name as a mere
directional reference, similar to use of a telephone number or business
address on stationery, business cards, or advertisements, is not use of the
name as a source identifier. ** " (** added).
Source: Trademark examination of domain name policy, USPTO,
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/tac/domain/tmdomain.htm
Kathryn Kleiman
ACM's Internet Governance Committee