Re: [wg-review] Trademarks and UDRP

[Kent Crispin <kent@songbird.com>]

On Fri, Feb 23, 2001 at 02:39:43PM +1300, Joop Teernstra wrote:
[...]

> Kent, tell us honestly, did you register the TM in order to protect the
> business you are doing in Songbird against others that would use that name
> in your class of business, or in order to effectively hold off a TM
> holder's attack against your Domain Name?

Both of those reasons, plus some more.  Originally "songbird" was my
small company doing music software -- I don't remember, for maybe 10
years before I got the domain name.

When I got the domain name, remember, it was the NSI dispute resolution
policy, which was vastly worse than the UDRP -- you *had* to have a TM 
to protect your domain, because under the NSI policy there was no 
defense at all.  I had very long range plans for songbird; I didn't 
want to get halfway through and see it all go up in smoke.

> How much did it cost you to register the TM?

$250, plus some incidental fees.  Maybe $350 altogether.  The domain
name was $100, back then.  By now I probably have equal money invested
in the TM and the DN. 

> Is it reasonable to expect Individual DN registrants to spend that much to
> "buy insurance" for their DN?

Depends on how valuable the name is to them.  Songbird is extremely 
valuable to me.

> <snip>
> The point is that developments in 
> >one area can impact the rights of others in other areas, and when that 
> >happens, legal and political battles will occur.
> >
> Valid point well taken.  And the legal and political battles have suffered
> from a certain lopsidedness in terms of resources as we all know.

That lopsidedness also extends to the investment and the potential
damage.  Pepsi has spent literally billions building their brand.  

There is no question that there are some greedy bastards out there.  
But there is also no question that TM holders have legitimate issues.  
The UDRP is a vast improvement over what preceeded it; it can be 
further improved.

-- 
Kent Crispin                               "Be good, and you will be
kent@songbird.com                           lonesome." -- Mark Twain
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