Hold on

[Mark Perkins <MarkP@spc.org.nc>]

I feel very strongly that any "legal" decisions on issues that affect the
domain name system should be definitely postponed until all constituencies
are properly represented within ICANN. Specifically, Non Commercial Domain
Name Holders Constituency is only just holding its elections. Also, the
publicity for the procedure has been extremely weak; I am a member of
various intellectual property electronic mailing lists, and participate in
various professional information associations and have seen no ICANN request
for participation or comment from these arenas - let alone the wider
internet public.

Cybersquatting - the WIPO definition is too pro trademark holders. Generic,
common or day-to-day words should be protected from overbroad trademark
registration & litigation, otherwise this amounts to censorship. Alongside
this, the onus must be on the plaintiff to prove trademark dilution or
infringement - the assumption of not guilty until proven otherwise must be
maintained. The US Senate's legislation seems to recognise these issues
while WIPO & ICANN have not.

There seems to be have been an unecessary rush to reach conclusions on these
issues. This is clearly not required, the internet & its users have been
here for a number of years, while the commercial issues are relatively
recent - surely a more considered judgement would be socially (if not
commercially) more acceptable?

Mark Perkins
Librarian (acting)
Secretariat of the Pacific Community Library
95, Promenade Roger Laroque
Anse Vata, Noumea
New Caledonia, South Pacific
Tel: 00 687 262000  Fax: 00 687 263818
email: markp@spc.org.nc / web: http://www.spc.org.nc