Transcript ICANN and the New In..

ICANN and the New
International Law of Trademarks
David W. Maher
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal
Policy Oversight Committee - Chair
Internet Society -Vice President Public Policy
March 29, 2001
The View from CPSR
 The
current controversy over domain names
is a battle for the soul of the Internet. It is a
contest among corporate giants for control
of one of the most lucrative aspects of ecommerce on the Net. It is a push by
corporate trademark holders to gain new
rights in cyberspace. It is a struggle
between Washington and the rest of the
world for
CPSR, continued
 governance
of the Internet in the 21st
century. It is a tawdry illustration of oversized egos run amuck in the Net
community.
– (Glenn B. Manishin, writing in CPSR
Newsletter, Spring 1998)
ICANN
 Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers
 California corporation - 1998
 Not-for-profit
 International Board of Directors
 Members at Large
Before ICANN
Jon Postel and Joyce Reynolds
IETF32, Danvers MA, Apr 1995
Courtesy of Peter Lothberg, www.stupi.se
V1.1 17 Sep 99
The ICANN-GAC Organization
Government Advisory
Committee (GAC)
Plenary
GAC
Secretariat
Dept of Commerce
NTIA
MoU
ICANN Interim
Board (10)
ICANN
Secretariat
CRADA
NIST
<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$<$
[21 permanent]
(NOIE)
ICANN Website
Comments
Member
Nations
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
…
Yemen
(50 active,
200+
potential)
[Because the GAC is a closed,
secret activity, it's internal
structure isn't fully known.]
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Bangladesh
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
Chile
Cyprus
Czech Rep.
Denmark
Finland
France
Gambia
Germany
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Korea
Latvia
Libya
Malaysia
Mexico
Morocco
Netherlands
New Zealand
Niue
Norway
Papua New Guinea
Peru
Portugal
Singapore
Slovenia
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Tonga
Tuvalu
United Kingdom
USA
Vatican City State
Vietnam
Yemen
GAC Website
Fair Practices
Committee
Internet Assigned
Numbers Authority
< 2 directors per region (9)
At-Large Membership
ccTLD
Committee
[non-functional]
At-Large Council
(18)
Convergence
AdHoc Group
IANA Website
1 director per region (3)
1 director
per region (3)
Domain Name Supporting Organization
Address Supporting Organization
Secretariat
MoU Signatories
(ARIN, RIPE, APNIC)
[AF NIC]
Asia Pacific
Telecommunity (APT)
European Union
International
Telecommunication
Union (ITU)
Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and
Development (OECD)
South Pacific Forum
Secretariat (SPFS)
World Intellectual Property
Organisation (WIPO)
gTLD registries
Constituency
Comments
Address Council
(9)
General
Assembly
Membership Advisory
Committee
ccTLD registries
Constituency
3 seats
Web site
Individuals (>5000)
2 Council
seats per 5
regions, 8
at-large, <2
per region
Names
Council (19)
1 seat
3 each
On-line
Activities
Fund
Raising
(GIP)
Outside
Counsel
Jones Day
Secretariat
Comments
WG-A
Dispute
Resolution
Policy
Comments
Announce site
3 seats
General
Assembly
Comments
Comments
WG-B
Famous TradeMarks
Protocol Supporting Organization
3 seats
Commercial and
business entities
Constituency
ISP and connectivity
providers
Constituency
3 seats
Non-commercial
domain name holders
Constituency
Comments
Comments
3 seats
Comments
Advisory Committee on
Independent Review
[non-functional]
MoU Signatories
(ITU, ETSI, IETF, W3C)
3 each
WG-C1
Comments
Protocol Council
(12)
DNS Root Server
Advisory Committee
3 seats
Comments
WG-C2
Secretariat
Comments
Comments
Trademark, other
intellectual property
and anti-counterfeiting
interests Constituency
WG-C3
Comments
General
Assembly
Registrars
Constituency
WG-C
New gTLDs
WG-E
Global
Awareness and
Outreach
WG-D
Business Plan
and Internal
Procedures
WG-D1
Comments
WG-D2
Comments
Comments
Comments
See
additional
detail
Revolution in
Telecommunications
 Packets
vs. Circuits
 The Internet is a network of networks
 Hierarchy of servers, with 13 “root servers”
at the top.
 Dominant “A” server with “root zone file”
Internet Historical Perspective
 Created
by the US Government and
academic communities primarily for
research applications
 The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
- an unincorporated voluntary organization
 IANA - Internet Assigned Numbers
Authority - Prof. Jon Postel
Internet Historical Perspective, II
 IAB
- Internet Architecture Board - final
decisions on technical questions
 ISOC - Internet Society - a professional
organization - confirms selection of
Chair of IAB
 Control Issues:
– The “netheads” vs. the “bellheads”
– The “geeks” vs. the “suits”
The Domain Name System
 “aol.com”
– “.com” is the “top level domain” (TLD)
– “.aol” is the “second level domain”
 email
addresses are created by putting an
“@” to the left of the second level domain e.g. “[email protected]”
The Domain Name System, II
 IP Address
System - each network
identified by number
 Creation of the DNS - Paul Mockapetris
– An easier way to remember network locations
The Domain Name System, III
 Generic
TLDs (gTLDs) - .com, .net, .org
 Country Code TLDs (ccTLDs) - .us, .uk.,
.ca, .cn etc.
 International TLDs (iTLDs) - .int
 Special, US only - .gov, .mil, .edu
 Internal Systems - .arpa
The Domain Name System, IV
 ccTLDs
- the two letter country codes are
assigned from a United Nations list
 ISO 3166 - http://www.itu.int/net/cctlds/icca-z.htm
The ccTLDs
 Total
- approximately 240
 Under ISO 3166, Puerto Rico is .pr
(controversy over European Union,
Catalonia, et al.)
 Two types:
– .uk, .de, .fr, .es - only national residents with
registered trademark or business name may
register
– .io, .md, .tv, .tm - anyone may register anything
The Trademark Problem,
Round 1
 RFC
1591 (March, 1994):
“The registration of a domain name
does not have any Trademark status. It is up
to the requestor to be sure he is not
violating anyone else's Trademark.”
IANA and NSI
 IANA authorizes
Network Solutions, Inc.
(NSI) to register domain names in .com,
.net and .org
 National Science Foundation (NSF) steps in
to fund the activity (1993)
 Cooperative Agreement between NSF and
NSI - NSI paid by NSF to register domain
names, free of charge to users
1995 - the Internet grows explosively - the WordWideWeb
 Amendment
to the Cooperative Agreement
allows NSI to charge for registrations - $50
per year
 Trademark problems grow
The Trademark Problem,
Round 2
 Jon
Postel’s draft of August, 1996:
 Proposes
creation of at least 150 new
gTLDs
 Trademarks:
“Domain names are intended to be an
addressing mechanism and are not intended
to reflect trademarks, copyrights or any
other intellectual property rights.”
Trademark-Domain Name
collisions
 Create
a policy?
– NSI’s controversial “Dispute Policy”
 Leave
it to the national courts ?
 International law?
The International Ad Hoc
Committee (IAHC)
 Created
by IANA and ISOC, September
1996
 Generic Top Level Domain Memorandum
of Understanding signed in Geneva,
May, 1997 - the “gTLD-MoU”
http://www.gtld-mou.org
The IAHC PLAN
 Begin
with 7 new gTLDs:
– .firm
– .arts
 A conscious
.shop
.rec
.web
.info
.nom
decision to follow the Internet
example - consensus of the community
 Successor - Policy Oversight Committee
(POC)
Why new domains? What’s the
rush?
 The
“open” ccTLDs - .tm, .tv., .io, etc.
 Anyone can have a root server http://www.adns.net/links.html
 The NSI monopoly
 Litigation
 There are no good policy arguments for
maintaining an artificial shortage
The Solution?
 “I’m
from the government, and I’m here to
help you.” (Ira Magaziner)
 A new and institutionalized IANA - some
entity that can administer the root servers,
the protocols, the IP addresses and the
domain name system
The US Takes Over
 The
“White Paper”- June 1998 http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainn
ame/6_5_98dns.htm
 ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers) - 1998 - incorporated
in California, not for profit, geographically
diverse Board of Directors.
– http://www.icann.org
ICANN
9
Interim Directors
 9 Directors from ICANN’s Support Groups
– 3 from the “Domain Name Support Group”
– 3 from the “Address Support Group”
– 3 from the “Protocol Support Group”
9
to be elected from the “At Large
Membership”
 Annual budget - over US$ 5 Million
Will ICANN work?
 ICANN
– Financial support?
– Threat of litigation
– United States Dep’t of Commerce still has sole
authority over the content of the “A” root
server, with the tacit consent of other
governments.
– Will the U.S. Congress allow ICANN to take
control of the “A” root server?
Trademark - Domain Name
Issues
 The
battles for control of the Internet are
being fought, in large part, over domain
name and trademark issues
 First come - First served: Cybersquatters or
Freedom Fighters?
ICANN and the UDRP
 The
“quid pro quo”:
– New gTLDs - IF - there is an effective
administrative trademark-domain name dispute
resolution policy in place.
 ICANN’s
Uniform Dispute Resolution
Policy for cybersquatters
http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp.htm
ICANN Adds new gTLDs
 November
2000 - ICANN proposes seven
new gTLDs -November, 2000 : .BIZ,
.INFO, .NAME, .PRO, .MUSEUM,
.AERO, and .COOP
 Chart of Intellectual Property protection:
http://ipc.songbird.com/Proposed_TLDs_chart_nov_00_1st_try.htm
 Analysis
of new domains
http://www.nameengine.com/third_rail/archive.html
U.S. Legislation
 The
“Anticybersquatting Consumer
Protection Act” - amending the Lanham Act
- December, 1999
 Bad faith infringement
– “Bad faith” defined
– in personam jurisdiction
– in rem jurisdiction
Famous Marks and Dilution
 Dilution
and economic imperialism
 Dilution and freedom of expression - John
Perry Barlow - “remember that, on the
Internet, the First Amendment is a local
ordinance”
Breakdown of the Root?
 RFC
2628 - the absolute necessity of a
unique root for a global Internet
 Alternative roots
 New.net
 Internationalized domain names
If ICANN doesn’t work
 Back
to the drawing board
 Takeover by the GAC
 Possible revolt by largest service providers
 United Nations (ITU) action
 Continued erosion of authority of root
 NSI/Verisign effectively controls the
generic TLDs, .com, .net and .org
The Next War
 ENUM
- when phone numbers replace
domain names
 ITU vs. IETF - Control of e164.arpa RFC 2916
 The value of 800 numbers
The Past is Prologue
 [email protected]