Just a quick comment (I cannot attend the Singapore meeting), I share
Amr's caution.
If indeed we could get all IP matters viewed through the lens of consumer
interests (including but not limited to "consumer protection"), that would
be a great thing. Consumer interests would, in my book, also include
prevention of anti-competitive practices that limit consumer choice, or
even suppress consumer speech. We certainly want to prevent fraud and
avoid confusion in the name of clarity, and that is what trademark is
legitimately about. If it stopped there, things would probably work
fairly well.
Especially, the structural differences between DNS and trademark need to
be kept front and center at all times. Trademark has geographical and
market-related limits, whereas DNS has no such thing (except perhaps to a
limited extent geographically in the ccTLDs -- but not for gTLDs). It is
simply not a 1-to-1 mapping, and to try to force-fit it will lead to no
good.
Balance is what everyone claims to be after, and if such claims are made
in good faith then maybe there is a way to find common ground. That would
be a good thing. It's worth giving that a chance, but it has to start
with honest acknowledgement of over-reach. It seems to me that
"education" may be warranted on both sides of the issues here.
Dan
--
Any opinions expressed in this message are those of the author alone and
do not necessarily reflect any position of the author's employer.
On Tue, February 3, 2015 9:12 am, Lori Schulman wrote:
> Hi Amr,
>
> I am going to respond very briefly to the point about civil society and
> brand protection and I think that this a conversation that we can continue
> in more specific detail after Singapore. From my point of view, the root
> of brand protection is consumer protection. If viewed through the lens
> of consumer protection, then civil society interests certainly align with
> intellectual property interests. They are not antithetical.
> Independent research conducted by NPOC demonstrated an overwhelming need
> for basic information regarding how to use the Internet and opportunities
> within the DNS to support organizational missions. Brian Winterfeldt, the
> IPC GNSO councilor, offered to give the IP point of view in response to
> questions that NPOC participants have regarding choosing names, how to
> register and protect domains, etc. The deck that he presented at last
> month's webinar touched on free speech issues within the context of
> organizational names. I have spent most of my career as a nonprofit IP
> lawyer. That is viewed in some circles as an oxymoron but it is not. The
> care and protection of an organization's good name (and its intellectual
> property in general) is critical to the advancement of its mission whether
> it is to feed the hungry, protect the environment or foster good Internet
> citizenship. The idea is to create the right balance between fostering
> basic rights such as free speech and privacy while protecting the name,
> reputation and intellectual output of worthy organizations. The way that
> nonprofits enforce their rights can be very different than for profits for
> a variety of reasons - mission objectives and cost are 2 big factors.
> Some may freely release content if it is within their organizational
> interest to do so. I have found through the years that the best way to
> keep a balanced perspective and not to be overzealous in my approach to
> enforcement is to remember that trademark rights, particularly, are
> grounded in consumer protection. Copyright and patent protections are
> necessary to foster innovation which is good for society as a whole.
> It's when those principles get lost, twisted or obscured that we run into
> trouble.
>
> Lori
>
>
>
> Lori S. Schulman * General Counsel
> 1703 North Beauregard Street
>
> Alexandria, VA 22311-1714
>
> P 703-575-5678 * [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> [cid:image001.png@01CC81E2.512C46F0]
>
>
>
> From: NCSG-Discuss [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Amr
> Elsadr
> Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2015 10:22 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Feb 10: Singapore Pathfinder Webinar: What every Civil
> Society Organization should Know about its use of the Internet and Never
> Dared to Ask! - Part 2
>
> Hi Sam,
>
> Unfortunately, this webinar will take place midway through constituency
> day, so it'll be pretty difficult for those who wish to participate in
> their own groups' meetings (either in person or remotely) to attend the
> webinar.
>
> I am certainly interested to listen in, and will try to in the future. One
> of the topics I find to be of great interest is brand protection. I find
> the mix of civil society online, domain names and brand protection to be
> more than just a little odd. Now I'm not saying that protection of brands
> is a bad thing, but when it comes to gTLD policies, I have found that
> achieving almost all of the goals that I have come to believe are
> important to civil society put us in direct conflict with the interests of
> brand owners.
>
> I would assume (and hope) that there is some way for civil society to
> approach this issue differently than the Intellectual Property
> Constituency (IPC), but it looks like one of the presenters of this topic
> is actually one of the IPC's GNSO councillors.
>
> Will there be a recording of the webinar? Like I said, I'd be very
> interested to hear more on this.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Amr
>
> On Feb 3, 2015, at 1:41 PM, Sam Lanfranco
> <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>
>
> Singapore Pathfinder Webinar Program
> "What every Civil Society Organization should Know about
> its use of the Internet and Never Dared to Ask! - Part 2"
> (South East Asia Regional Webinar)
> Date & Time: February 10, 2015 11:30-13:00 SGT (3:30-5:00 UTC)
> Event Location: Moor Room, Raffles City Convention Centre, Singapore
> Civil Society and Non-Governmental Organizations are the Internet's
> largest stakeholder group, and they are becoming increasingly dependent on
> how the Internet operates in order to carry out work in pursuit of their
> vision and Mission.
> This regional Pathfinder webinars and dialogues series is designed to
> address vital operational concerns, explore challenges and present
> effective strategic uses of the Internet by Civil Society and NGO
> organizations. Presenters from Internet stakeholder groups will address
> issues that directly impact Civil Society organization use of the
> Internet. This is Pathfinder's second regional session. The first was in
> Washington D.C. in early January. There are more to follow. Pathfinder is
> an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership Foundation . This South
> East Asia Regional Webinar is hosted by ICANN's Not-For-Profit Operational
> Concerns Constituency (NPOC) with assistance from Katten Muchin Rosenman
> LLP (Washington D.C.) and the Alpha & Omega Law Corporation (Singapore)
> Topic 1: "Making it work for you: Emerging Opportunities and Challenges
> for Civil Society Organizations on the Internet"
> Presenter: Sam Lanfranco, Chair, NPOC Policy Committee; Chair, ISOC-Canada
> Public Policy Committee
>
> Topic 2: "Civil Society Online: Domain Names, Brand Protection and Abuse
> Prevention"
> Presenters: Renee Xavier, Director, Alpha & Omega Law Firm (Singapore);
> Brian J. Winterfeldt, Head of Internet Practice, Katten Muchin Rosenman
> LLP (Washington D.C.)
>
> Topic 3: "ICANN's Role in Civil Society Organization Internet
> Opportunities and Challenges"
> Presenters: Jean-Jacques Sahel, Civil Society Engagement, ICANN; Nigel
> Hickson, IG matters, ICANN
>
> Moderator: Rudi Vansnick, Chair, Not-for-Profit Operational Concerns
> Constituency (NPOC)
>
> For information on remote participation and questions see:
> http://www.gkpf.org/portal.php?p=webinarSg150210
>
>
>
>
> This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of
>
> the person(s) to whom it has been sent, and may contain information that
> is
>
> confidential or legally protected. If you are not the intended recipient
> or
>
> have received this message in error, you are not authorized to copy,
> distribute, or otherwise use this message or its attachments. Please
> notify the
> sender immediately by return e-mail and permanently delete this message
> and any
>
> attachments. ASCD makes no guarantee that this e-mail is error or virus
> free.
|
