Re: [IFWP] Political Domain Name story

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com>]

Martin and all,

  Very good and mostly accurate analysis in this instance.

  But now enter the ICANN "Accreditation Policy".  Does Williesucks.com
or Willisbrwonsucks.com for instance constitute an "Abusive" DN?
In that the ICANN has not accurately defined what "Abusive" as in the
context of a Domain Name or the use of DNS, one has to wonder...

  Now all this brings us to the "Dispute Resolution" considerations
from, ICANN, WIPO and now WG-A of the DNSO.  And the seemingly
never ending saga continues, with the now addition of the "Constituency
Model for the DNSO and some "Types" of constituencies....

  So the divisiveness continues.....

Martin B. Schwimmer wrote:

> He doesn't have to have superior rights via a vis everyone else in the
> world in this particular matter - he has to have superior rigths vis a vis
> defendant.  The thought that plaintiff has to have the best rights in the
> world to a name is a fundamental misunderstanding of intellectual property
> law, often repeated on this list.
>
> Sun Oil owns a tm for SUN for oil.  Sun Microsystems owns the tm SUN for
> Microsystems.  Joe WiseAss uses SUN for petroleum products.  Sun Oil sues
> Joe Wiseass for infringemnet of the "character string" SUN.  Sun Oil does
> not have rights "en grosse" to Sun, in that it could not prevent Sun
> Microsystems' use of the "string" in certain usages (so it is not
> meaningful to say that Sun Oil has superior rights to Sun Microsystems - it
> has different rights), but it does have superior rights vis a vis Joe
> Wiseass.  Joe Wiseass does not have Sun Microsystems' defenses available to
> him.  Sun Oil prevails.
>
> Mr. Hasse does not have the defenses of some good faith Willie Brown
> available to him.
>
> Willie Brown possibly has superior rights to williebrown.com,
> williebrownjr.com and damayor.com vis a vis Andy Hasse because Mr. Hasse
> appears to have obtained domain names likely to be associated with Willie
> Brown, the mayor of San Francisco, possibly in a way calculated to harm
> Mayor Brown (Mr Hasse's employment by Mayor Brown's rival is relevant to
> this analysis).  Possible theories include rights of publicity, common law
> trademark, false advertising, interference with prospective advantage, and
> unfair competition (first disclaimer - a California IP lawyer would know
> better about these state claims.  Second disclaimer - this discussion is
> based solely on the single news article - the facts in the article may be
> inaccurate and material facts may have been omitted).
>
> I do not believe that Willie Brown has superior rights to williesucks.com
> vis a vis Mr. Hasse.
>
> At 03:01 PM 8/11/99 -0700, you wrote:
> >On Wed, 11 Aug 1999, Martin B. Schwimmer wrote:
> >
> >> Did you read the article?
> >
> >Indeed I did.
> >
> >> If you were talking about brown.com (or even williebrown.com in another
> >> context) I might agree with you except the article states that the names
> >> taken were:
> >>
> >> "williebrown.com, williebrownjr.com, damayor.com, frankjordan.com,
> >> jordanformayor.com -- and even williesucks.com -- are registered to Hasse
> >> Inc., owned by one Andy Hasse"
> >>
> >> so this is how someone can cybersquat on a common name.  The defenses of a
> >> hypothetical innocent person are not available to this non-hypothetical
> >> person who clearly targeted Mayor Brown (unless you can come up with
> >> another Willie Brown Jr. who is known as damayor).
> >
> >Please explain to me why Willie Brown, the mayor has superior rights to
> >the domain name "williebrown.com" or any of the other character strings
> >above.
> >
> >I'd also love to hear your definition of "cybersquatter."
> >
> >
> >/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
> \/\
> >Patrick Greenwell
> >                 "This is our time. It will not come again."
> >\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
> /\/
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
> @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @

Regards,
--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman INEGroup (Over 95k members strong!)
CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng/SR. Java/CORBA Development Eng.
Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
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