<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">+1 <div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Domain name speculation is very destructive since it requires potential users who have real businesses or needs to jump through hoops and often be blocked from a reasonable domain name.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">John <br class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Jun 28, 2019, at 8:16 AM, Evan Leibovitch <<a href="mailto:evan@telly.org" class="">evan@telly.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:#0b5394">Oh gawd yes. Agree with everything. Thanks, Barry.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:#0b5394"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:#0b5394">While both Barry and Karl have their indictments of the MSM, this is the rationale that rings true to me.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:#0b5394"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:#0b5394">From day one of my involvement in ICANN I have wished that it adopted a "use it or lose it" regime for domains as exists for trademarks. That would eliminate the speculation problem overnight.<br class=""></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:#0b5394"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:#0b5394">- Evan<br class=""></div></div><br class=""><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, 27 Jun 2019 at 15:40, <<a href="mailto:bzs@theworld.com" class="">bzs@theworld.com</a>> wrote:<br class=""></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><br class="">
If I may kick over the chess board...<br class="">
<br class="">
What underlies just about all these problems is the very notion that<br class="">
one can register a domain name and not put it to use yet still retain<br class="">
rights.<br class="">
<br class="">
You can't go to the USPTO or WIPO and just register clever strings and<br class="">
expect protection for them, e.g., sell them on the market, sue<br class="">
infringers, etc.<br class="">
<br class="">
Fundamental to trademark protection is that they are used in<br class="">
commerce.<br class="">
<br class="">
You have to provide evidence of use in commerce to tm orgs when you<br class="">
register, and on each renewal.<br class="">
<br class="">
And your rights can be terminated if someone can show the mark<br class="">
represents no good or service. That's a much higher bar than "bad<br class="">
faith".<br class="">
<br class="">
Even ICANN's Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) requires this evidence to<br class="">
tie your trademark to certain domain rights -- if nothing else<br class="">
consider that an existence proof before countering that it would be<br class="">
too difficult, we do it now.<br class="">
<br class="">
250+ years of experience told the tm orgs one has to do that or else<br class="">
we'd have what the domain system has now, a non-stop landrush for<br class="">
strings and a demand that other entities (e.g., ICANN via UDRP/URS,<br class="">
courts, etc) should expend whatever resources necessary to protect<br class="">
these string rights.<br class="">
<br class="">
Why?<br class="">
<br class="">
Because, and this touches on Evan's points, at the root (ahem) of<br class="">
trademark rights are consumer protections, not rights in ownership.<br class="">
The latter are a result.<br class="">
<br class="">
The purpose of a tm is to protect a consumer so they know when they<br class="">
buy a box of Acme Soap it is highly likely to be a product of the Acme<br class="">
Soap company and anything else is civil and/or criminal fraud.<br class="">
<br class="">
We came close to this concept with secure websites and certificates<br class="">
etc. but it's somewhat tangential, more like the holograms Microsoft<br class="">
et al puts on their optical media and similar (e.g., license<br class="">
activation.)<br class="">
<br class="">
Instead ICANN has created effectively a type of fiat currency --<br class="">
perhaps an economics historian can help me focus that term -- but an<br class="">
abstract object with speculative value even absent any actual usage.<br class="">
<br class="">
It's worse than that since currency generally has the same value w/in<br class="">
a type (e.g., each US dollar is worth about the same) whereas every<br class="">
single domain string is subject to individual valuation.<br class="">
<br class="">
And every single domain name represents a type of monopoly on that<br class="">
string whereas, e.g., any US dollar (or Euro, whatever) is as good as<br class="">
any other.<br class="">
<br class="">
Namespaces are not new or unique.<br class="">
<br class="">
Telephone numbers, postal addresses, national identification numbers,<br class="">
personal names (go ahead try to launch a singing career calling<br class="">
yourself Beyonce or Sting), etc.<br class="">
<br class="">
IANA manages hundreds of them such as MAC addresses for your wi-fi and<br class="">
ethernet devices.<br class="">
<br class="">
The problem here goes very deep and trying to patch it up with price<br class="">
controls etc really is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic,<br class="">
putting lipstick on the pig, closing the barn door after the horse is<br class="">
long gone, whatever.<br class="">
<br class="">
And the idea that trademark orgs like WIPO or USPTO could hold back<br class="">
"premium" trademarks and charge much higher prices as we allow<br class="">
registries to do is laughable self-dealing idiocy.<br class="">
<br class="">
This entire structure smacks so much of the foxes guarding the<br class="">
henhouse that to be honest it is a chilling indictment of the very<br class="">
concept of "multi-stakeholderism".<br class="">
<br class="">
The emperors really have no clothes.<br class="">
<br class="">
Which is to say no legal and moral structure other than whatever<br class="">
serves the participants' own selfish interests which amounts to who<br class="">
shows up at a table for a vote.<br class="">
<br class="">
Perhaps someone with better economics history credentials can explain<br class="">
what a bad corner this industry has painted itself into and why a few<br class="">
reforms here and there probably won't fix it.<br class="">
<br class="">
Right now, to me, it all resembles the sort of structure tinpot<br class="">
dictators and their corrupt cronies devise.<br class="">
<br class="">
I realize people desperately like to think better of themselves.<br class="">
<br class="">
All ICANN say is: Sorry! If the shoe fits...<br class="">
<br class="">
-- <br class="">
-Barry Shein<br class="">
<br class="">
Software Tool & Die | <a href="mailto:bzs@TheWorld.com" class="">bzs@TheWorld.com</a> | <a href="http://www.theworld.com/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">http://www.TheWorld.com</a><br class="">
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</blockquote></div><br clear="all" class=""><br class="">-- <br class=""><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div style="text-align:center" class=""><div style="text-align:left" class="">Evan Leibovitch, <span style="font-size:12.8px" class="">Toronto Canada</span></div><div style="text-align:left" class=""><span style="font-size:12.8px" class="">@evanleibovitch or </span><span style="font-size:12.8px" class="">@el56</span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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