One must really cry for trademark holder representatives in the new
gTLD process. The poor trademark holder representatives, with well-paid
lawyers fighting for their rights, and yet, occasionally someone stands
up to them and questions whether they are right.
In another article on the World Trademark Review website they are crying
into their milk and claiming nobody listens to them, ICANN in
particular. After all, when you spend so much money on lobbying and
lawyers, it could only be expected you get your way.
With more negotiations next week at the ICANN meeting on the Draft
Applicant Guidebook, trademark holders are none too impressed. "Read
between the lines in papers and letters recently published, and a
systemic lack of understanding of trademark rights becomes apparent"
they claim.
"The best example is the board's proposal to enjoin rights owners to
show evidence of use for every mark they hope to deposit in the
clearinghouse" the World Trademark Review article says.
"After many months of back-and-forth in the ICANN community over ICANN's
proposal to include in the clearinghouse only marks that have undergone
'substantive examination' (ie, examination on relative grounds of
refusal), ICANN's Government Advisory Committee (GAC) has recommended:
'All trademark registrations of national and supranational effect,
regardless of whether examined on substantive or relative grounds, must
be eligible to participate in the pre-launch sunrise mechanisms.'"
I guess one could feel a little bit for the trademark holders if they
were not prepared to be so obstinate in the whole new gTLD process and
work constructively, but if you are inclined to read the full World
Trademark Review article, see:
www.worldtrademarkreview.com/daily/Detail.aspx?g=74db5244-6225-41bf-a93c-4bac0abb7699
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