RE: [wg-c] IMPORTANT: DRAFT WG-C REPORT

["Rothnie, Warwick" <Warwick.Rothnie@msj.com.au>]

Mallesons Stephen Jaques
Confidential communication
 
Kendall Dawson stated:

>As another member of the community once stated:

>"It was never intended that the domains were a 'brand'. Domains were to
>find hosts (IP addresses), not to fulfill trademark applications.
>Therefore this property "right" doesn't really exist, as it can be
>changed at any moment because its a technical problem in ultimate
>reality, despite the sociopseudolegal impediments to making that
>change."

>I strongly agree with this statement. 

It would be difficult to encapsulate the problem better.  Domain names have
become much more than mere addresses (if they could ever have been described
as that once the decision to replace number with alpha-numeric strings was
made) and consequently an awful of lot of "businesses" are being put to
enormous expense by the propagation of this misleading claim.  This is not
just a problem for giant transnational corporations.  It is widespread.  

The longer those "designing" the domain name system refuse to recognise
this, the easier it is to condemn the addition of more gTLDs as a cynical
attempt by those who register domain names to make profits at everyone
else's expense.

Warwick A Rothnie
Partner
Mallesons Stephen Jaques Melbourne
Direct line (61 3) 9643 4254
Fax (61 3) 9643 5999


-----Original Message-----
From: Kendall Dawson [mailto:kendall@motif1.obs-us.com]
Sent: Friday, 3 March 2000 11:00:AM
To: wg-c@dnso.org
Subject: re: [wg-c] IMPORTANT: DRAFT WG-C REPORT


I think that Jon's initial draft is clearly worded and accurately
summarizes the activity of WG-C during the last 8 months. I am a new
member to the group and appreciate the thorough history of the issues. I
do have a vested interest in the outcome of gTLD's and, for the record,
would like to state my views:

1) I support the consensus position - new gTLDs should be added.
2) I think that ICANN should start with a roll out of 6 - 10 gTLDs
immediately with an upfront commitment to roll out many more during the
next couple of years. (I also agree that there should be a brief
evaluation period to gauge technical stability)
3) I do NOT agree with the position that deployment should be delayed
until after implementation of the uniform dispute resolution procedure,
improved domain name registration procedures, and protection for
so-called famous marks.

I look forward to participating in
future votes and discussion threads as a member of WG-C. I expect strong
support for ICANN and gTLD's in Cairo.

Sincerely,

Kendall Dawson
kendall@paradigm.nu