On Sep 6, 1:22, Steve Eppley wrote:
> What happens if a domain name gets trademarked *after* the domain
> name is assigned? Shouldn't the holder of the domain name be
> allowed to keep it?
>
> I couldn't tell from the post what the policy would be, and whether
> the "bottom line" at the moment is really that everyone needs to
> trademark their domain names if they want to protect them.
The current policy on this is at the RS Internic FTP site:
ftp://rs.internic.net/policy/internic.domain.policy
The answer to your question lies in item #4. All applicants are now held
responsible for defending, not only itself, but the NSI (+parents and
subsidiaries), NSF, IANA, and and all employees/directors/agents/etc. of
them from *ANY* legal action stemming from the use or registration of the
Domain Name. This includes trademark violations.
So theoretically, if a party managed to trademark a domain name being
used by someone else, they could sue for infringement, and throw the
whole thing either into court or arbitration. In addition, NSI
now refuses to act as an arbiter in such disputes, piling all its legal
responsibilities on the original Applicant.
Whether or not it would be possible to claim a trademark like that, I
don't know. I suspect the answer is yes, but I don't know the procedures
for doing so.
So yes, the whole point to the new policy is to force applicants to
trademark their domain names. It's also a convenient means to absolve
NSI of any responsibility whatsoever (which if you think about it, makes
sense, since they can't keep track of every single trademark).
-H
P.S. Even in a worst-case scenario (i.e. the Applicant violates
*anything* in the agreement and fails to provide "reasonably
satisfactory" evidence that it hasn't), the Applicant would
be allowed a minimum of 30 days to keep its old domain name
before the NSI terminates it. What isn't clear is whether
or not the Applicant would be allowed the *immediate* usage
of a different domain name; I'd imagine they'd have to re-
apply.
Doesn't this remind you of weasely software agreements? ;)
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