Congress. Gothenburg, Sweden

AIPPI ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONALE POUR LA PROTECTION DE LA PROPRIETE INTELLECTUELLE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPER...
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AIPPI ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONALE POUR LA PROTECTION DE LA PROPRIETE INTELLECTUELLE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INTERNATIONALE VEREINIGUNG FÜR DEN SCHUTZ DES GEISTIGEN EIGENTUMS

Congress Gothenburg, Sweden October 8 to 12, 2006

Report Special Committee Q160 ICANN Task Force

Report Q160 ICANN Task Force

Composition of the Committee Chairman:

Jane MUTIMEAR (United Kingdom)

Co–Chairman:

Clark LACKERT (United States of America)

Secretary:

Jeannette WIBMER (Switzerland)

Members:

Matthew SWINN (Australia) Sergio ELLMANN (Argentina) Yong YOON KIM (Rep. of Korea) Elisabeth LOGEAIS (France) Gerard DU PLESSIS (South Africa)

Q160 tracks Intellectual Property issues which arise in internet governance which is tasked to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ((ICANN). Of particular interest over the past year has been the launch of .eu which has generally been seen as a success, and the continued review of the purpose and use of WHOIS data. Q160 is also keen to monitor and report on the growth of Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) which use non–ASCII script and to monitor the role out of new gTLDs. .EU The long awaited domain name for the European Union: .eu was finally launched at the end of 2005, receiving over 70,000 applications for .eu domain names in its first hour of operation. A two stage “Sunrise” registration period was provided to protect trade mark and other rights owners, by permitting them to register prior to the general public. However, documentation was required to prove the right relied upon and this documentation was checked. From a total of 346,218 applications made under the Sunrise, 118,223 resulted in accepted registrations. Anyone was able to register from 7 April 2006 (the so–called “landrush”), which resulted in over 700,000 applications in the first four hours. By July 2006 .eu had reached over 2 million registrants, putting it in third place in Europe by number of registrants, behind .uk and .de. A breakdown of the registrations at the beginning of August 2006 per country is set out below: Country AT AX BE CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46,581 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .218 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55,779 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12,502 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36,979 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .656,137 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31,566 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4,390 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42,894 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7,741 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118,525

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GB GF GI GP GR HU IE IT LT LU LV MQ MT NL PL PT RE SE SI SK

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .376,383 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .700 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14,009 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17,270 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27,265 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121,990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3,007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12,189 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6,053 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16,803 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .248,375 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51,655 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9,523 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .220 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76,995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2,634 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8,378

Of most recent interest, Eurid, the .eu registry commenced action in July 2006 against 400 registrars of domain names alleging that they had acted as a syndicate to acquire domain names with the intent of reselling them (which is referred to as “warehousing”), in breach of Eurid’s contractual terms with the registrars. So Eurid is setting the standard for a new mould of registrars who carefully police their top level domain. WHOIS WHOIS data, which contains the details of domain name registrants, together with contact information, remains an important resource for Intellectual Property owners and their lawyers in enforcing Intellectual Property rights on the internet. ICANN has established a WHOIS task force and in June 2005 set them the following terms of reference to: 1)

Define the purpose of the WHOIS service in the context of ICANN’s mission and relevant core values, international and national laws protecting privacy of natural persons, international and national laws that relate specifically to the WHOIS service, and the changing nature of Registered Name Holders. and

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Define the purpose of the Registered Name Holder, technical, and administrative contacts, in the context of the purpose of WHOIS, and the purpose for which the data was collected.

The Generic Names Supporting Organisation (GNSO) of ICANN voted earlier this year that the WHOIS taskforce should work on the basis that the “purpose” of WHOIS data is as follows:

“The purpose of the gTLD Whois service is to provide information sufficient to contact a responsible party for a particular gTLD domain name who can resolve, or reliably pass on data to a party who can resolve, issues related to the configuration of the records associated with the domain name within a DNS nameserver.”

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They rejected the alternative formulation of:

“The purpose of the gTLD Whois service is to provide information sufficient to contact a responsible party or parties for a particular gTLD domain name who can resolve, or reliably pass on data to a party who can resolve, technical, legal or other issues related to the registration or use of a domain name.” This direction that the WHOIS taskforce should work with the more limited “purpose” of WHOIS in mind, was thought to give rise to a significant risk that the future functionality of the WHOIS database from the perspective of rights enforcement, would be impaired, as the purpose is limited to resolving technical issues. Q160 therefore wrote to the heads of the National Groups urging them to contact their national government representatives who attend ICANN meetings as members of the Government Advisory Committee (GAC). Many of the National Groups made contact with their GAC representatives and passed on AIPPI’s concerns about the potential erosion of the WHOIS database as a useful tool for the online enforcement of Intellectual Property rights. At the Marrakech meeting of ICANN in June 2006 there was a considerable degree of resistance to the narrow definition of the purpose of WHOIS. The GAC is now much more involved than it has previously been in this issue and had presentations from various government officials who expressed public support for open access. The chair of the GNSO expressed a view that the narrow definition could be construed in a much wider manner and should not prevent it achieving the aims being expressed by the IP and other communities. The work of the Taskforce continues and Q160 continues to monitor this important area. Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) The growth of domain names in non–ASCII script is another area which Q160 monitors. Although IDNs are an important part of the growth of the internet and can perform a role in breaking down the digital divide, they also present cybersquatters with new opportunities. The Public Interest Registry (which manages the .org domain) published its proposed “Principles for the Foundation of Top Level IDNs” in June 2006. This stated that the following six principles should be embedded in the foundation of all discussion on IDNs: 1) Retention of public trust 2) Protect DNS (Domain Name System) security and stability 3) Ensure equity and parity for Registries and Registrars 4) Minimise regulatory burdens 5) Foster a balanced approach to Intellectual Property protection and dispute resolution 6) Maintain consistency with proven internet principles. In relation to point 5 above, the PIR went on to propose a consistent process for the protection of Intellectual Property and dispute resolution or all users of the internet, which is a principle which AIPPI would support. This is an area which Q160 will continue to track. Other new gTLDs Several new generic top level domains (gTLDs) have launched over the past year. Among the new launches was .jobs, aimed at the recruitment industry and run by the Society for Human Resource Management. Companies are only allowed to register their company name or the name by which they are commonly known, which should deter cybersquatting.

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In May 2006 the ICANN Board voted against the introduction of .xxx, aimed at adult content, on the grounds of public policy after several members of the GAC expressed concerns regarding the public policy aspects of such a gTLD. .travel. specifically designed from the travel and tourism industry launched at the end of 2005, with over 16,000 domain names being registered in the first 3 months. Registrants have to demonstrate that they are connected with the travel industry. .mobi, dedicated to websites compatible for hand held devices, was in its Sunrise period for trade mark owners at the time of writing. Q160 monitors the launch of new gTLDs and contributes to the public comment stage. At the time of writing, Q160 is preparing a report for the IPC addressing the proposed contract between ICANN and the registry hoping to run the new gTLD .asia.

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