[Comment-Ip] Porsche Cars' Comments On WIPO Report

[Greg Phillips <GDP@HPALAW.com>]

Porsche AG and Porsche Cars North America, Inc. (collectively "Porsche")
appreciate the opportunity to submit these comments to ICANN in
connection with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
Final Report on intellectual property issues arising out of the
registration of domain names.

Like Sysyphus, the ancient King of Corinth, condemned to roll a heavy
rock up a hill in
Hades only to have it roll down again, Porsche has for several years
engaged in the never-ending  battle of combating cybersquatting,
cyberpiracy, and cyberabuse of the innumerable Internet domain names
that use Porsche’s world famous trademarks Porsche® and Boxster®. Over
300 unathorized domain names have been registered that use the world
famous trademark "Porsche." Porsche first filed suit against a
cyberpirate in 1996, and successfully obtained a preliminary and
permanent injunction transferring to Porsche the Internet domain name
PORSCHE.COM. Porsche Cars North America, Inc. v. Chen, No. 96-1006-A
(E.D.Va. 1996).    Since filing that lawsuit, Porsche
has faced a Herculean challenge in combating cyberabuse.

 As the Wall Street Journal recently noted:

          With the rapid explosion of Web sites hawking everything from
pornography to
     Bibles, competition for the attention of the world’s estimated 147
million web
     users is fierce.  Site creators spare no strategy to get noticed -
and trading on
     famous names, which are queried relentlessly by Web surfers, is a
key one.

Wall Street Journal, “Net of Fame,” p. 1, April 13, 1999.

Unfortunately, because Porsche® is one of the most famous trademarks in
the world,
countless registrants have included Porsche® in their Internet domain
names.  Registrants
register Internet domain names that include Porsche® for a variety of
purposes, including, but not limited to, (1) to use such names for
pornographic sites; (2) to extract payment from Porsche; (3) to offer
the domain name for sale to third parties; (4) to divert traffic to the
registrant’s Internet web site selling products unrelated to Porsche
products by capitalizing on consumer confusion; (5) to divert Internet
traffic to unauthorized web sites selling Porsche related products; (6)
to engage in consumer fraud, including the sale of counterfeit Porsche
products; and (7) to speculate on domain names generally.

For example, see PORSCHECAR.COM which is presently being used as a
pornographic web site. The home page of this pornographic web site
depicts a naked woman and a snake in the “Sex Zoo,” advertises the
infamous Pamela Anderson-Tommy Lee Honeymoon video, and also depicts a
woman copulating with an ape.

As another example, several domain names using Porsche® are being sold
by The Best
Domains, an Australian company.  The domain name, 911PORSCHE.COM, is
being offered for sale for $60,911.  The Best Domains Web Site states:

     What’s in a Name?  ASK COCA-COLA.  A domain-name is your own
Internet
     address.  This address, [sic] should say it all.  When advertising
it should be
     catchy and easily recognizable like all you other advertising.
There are 10,000
     NEW addresses registered every day.  When those addresses listed
below are gone
     THEY’RE GONE it [sic] will be even harder.  REMEMBER your Internet
     address IS a business asset and has value.  All these addresses
listed below WILL
     go up in value.”  Id. (emphasis in original).

Porsche testified at two of the WIPO hearing to plead Porsche's plight
on the Internet.  Porsche has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in
protecting the trademark Porsche®  on the Internet. Cybersquatting and
cyberpiracy place a huge burden on famous trademark holders in policing
domain names and enforcing their trademark rights.  Choosing to ignore
such practices and infringements is not an option to trademark owners
because the trademark laws require trademark owners to police their
trademarks.  Porsche has spent hundreds of millions of dollars
world-wide in promoting the good will associated with their
trademarks.In a very real sense, the trademarks are the crown jewels of
Porsche and must be protected as such.

In Porsche's view, the WIPO Final Report does not go far enough in
protecting world famous trademarks.  The WIPO Report is a good start but
additional protections must added.  For example, the exclusion for world
famous trademarks must be expanded to include protection for domain
names that use variations of Porsche's world famous trademarks.  For
example, nobody can dispute that the registrant of PORSCHE911.COM
intends to capitalize on and profit from the goodwill and reputation of
Porsche.

Porsche respectfully submits that it has much better things to do--i.e.,
design better cars--with its financial resources than to engage in the
never-ending battle against cyberabuse.  It is not in society's best
interests to have world famous companies such as Porsche be diverted and
distracted from their primary business.  Porsche pleads with ICANN to
recognize the intolerable burden that companies such as Porsche are
forced to bear and do something about.  Adopting the WIPO Final Report
would be a good start.

Gregory D. Phillips
Howard, Phillips & Andersen
560 E. 200 S., Suite 230
Salt Lake City, Utah  84102
US
801-366-7707
801-366-7706 (Facsimile)
Attorneys for Porsche AG and Porsche Cars North America, Inc.