Hi Sam, Somebody awake smells the coffee.... https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2014-05-22-en Gakuru On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 4:02 PM, Sam Lanfranco <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > On 15/05/2014 9:25 PM, Alex Gakuru wrote: > > Beyond if just "outreach" role, one actually wonders which globally > binding instrument mandated ICANN's derived legal authority to act as > enforcer on global Intellectual Property rights. Can it be contested in a > court of law in any of all other countries/regions outside of US/ > California? And if so, what next? > > > Alex is scratching at an important area here. When one looks at theories > of governance, and at legislation and case law with regard to trademarks, > it is probably correct to say that there is a Pandora's Box of unresolved > issues around how ICANN is currently trying to handle the terms of the > process for awarding domain names, the dispute resolution process, and in > particular the trade mark ownership/infringement issue. This is not the > place to do that analysis but it is worth flagging two elements that bring > complexity to any progress here. > > The first has to do with governance. In most governance models there is > quite a separation of powers as between the policy (legislative) process > and the dispute/infringement (adjudication) process. The currently > existing approaches to handling these two powers may be one source of > complications. > > The second has to do with while there are international accords and > agreements on many aspects of Intellectual Property, the area of trademarks > is particularly complicated. Much of policy and enforcement is at the > national level and, in contrast to images (or patents), words can be less > distinct and delineated. The ICANN logo is distinct. If a groundnut farmers > organization in India creates ICANNuts.org, and ICANN decide there is an > issue, where should it be addressed, and what policy (legislation) and > precedents (case law) should apply? There needs to be a broader and deeper > stakeholder engagement for a better understanding of elements of the > problem at this level, rather than focusing on the specifics of who did > what, and when given the current situation. The trademark issue is a case > in point. > > It comes as no surprise that the first efforts to address these issues at > the global level will have problems. For much of the Internet ecosystem, we > are on a journey across partially uncharted terrain populated by various > stakeholders protecting and extending existing rights into these new > territories. The new structures and processes we are building draw from > existing ideas of structure and process. The challenge is to “learn while > doing”, and build based on that learning. While it is impossible to > separate structure from process, we need a sense of mutuality of interest > in finding workable structures and processes here (e.g., with regard to > adjudication) even if within those structures and processes we will have > disagreements over desired outcomes. > > Sam Lanfranco > > -- > ------------------------------------------------ > "It is a disgrace to be rich and honoured > in an unjust state" -Confucius > ------------------------------------------------ > Dr Sam Lanfranco (Prof Emeritus & Senior Scholar) > Econ, York U., Toronto, Ontario, CANADA - M3J 1P3 > email: [log in to unmask] Skype: slanfranco > blog: http://samlanfranco.blogspot.com > Phone: +1 613-476-0429 cell: +1 416-816-2852 > >