RE: [wg-c] Application Requirements

["Christopher Ambler" <cambler@iodesign.com>]

You're missing a very key issue. Actually two. One of them
is that this is an untested guideline. The second, I am not
at liberty to discuss until after our litigation against
CORE is completed.

--
Christopher Ambler
chris@the.web


-----Original Message-----
From: John Charles Broomfield [mailto:jbroom@manta.outremer.com]
Sent: Friday, July 10, 2893 3:44 PM
To: cambler@iodesign.com
Cc: kendall@motif1.obs-us.com; wessorh@ar.com; wg-c@dnso.org
Subject: Re: [wg-c] Application Requirements



> Please add:
>
> 1. Proposed initial TLD
> 2. Published TLD meaning or purpose
> 3. Supporting documentation relating to trademark status of TLD
>
> Let's face it, if SLDs are causing such a ruckus with regards to
> trademarks, TLDs fall into the same boat. There's no functional
> difference in the trademark issues between ibm.com and .ibm
>
> --
> Christopher Ambler
> chris@the.web

Except that the USPTO says that TLDs are not trademarkable (if I read
correctly) under their September-99 guidelines... Pity about that. It would
seem to throw out the window anyone claiming to have (or wave about) a piece
of paper with a trademark on a TLD... :-)

From http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/tac/notices/guide299.htm
---
D. Marks Comprised Solely of TLDs for Domain Name Registry Services

If a mark is composed solely of a TLD for "domain name registry services"
(e.g., the services currently provided by Network Solutions, Inc. of
registering .com domain names), registration should be refused under
Trademark Act ''1, 2, 3 and 45, 15 U.S.C. ''1051, 1052, 1053 and 1127,
on the ground that the TLD would not be perceived as a mark. The examining
attorney should include evidence from the NEXIS. database, the Internet,
or other sources to show that the proposed mark is currently used as a TLD
or is under consideration as a new TLD.

If the TLD merely describes the subject or user of the domain space,
registration should be refused under Trademark Act '2(e)(1), 15 U.S.C.
'2(e)(1), on the
ground that the TLD is merely descriptive of the registry services.
---

Yours, John Broomfield.