WIPO has sent a letter to ICANN which points out their
ongoing concerns. I find myself sympathizing with
their plight since their petition has gotten short
shrift in the ICANN process (it has effectively been
buried by ICANN Staff).
In Capetown, the ICANN Board passed the following
resolution:
"Resolved (04.106) staff is requested to undertake
further analysis of the comments expected during the
public comment period, the staff to undertake to
consult the community members with the purpose of
drawing up a report based on all these elements that,
together with an appropriate draft Recommendation to
be submitted for public comments, and that the Board
be informed of the results of these efforts, including
if appropriate a Recommendation, at its meeting in Mar
del Plata in April 2005."
Not surprisingly, at the Mar del Plata session, no
ICANN Staff "Recommendation" emerged, nor any report
on consultations.
It had earlier been noted that the purpose of the
resolution was to see whether staff consultations with
the full range of people in the community, would be
able to find some space for middle ground and to
determine that which might be feasible, practical and
pragmatic.
I, for one, (who actually posted comments on the topic
-- see http://forum.icann.org/lists/wipo2-comments/ ),
have not witnessed any staff consultations whatsoever.
As I see it, the folks at WIPO have been jerked
around by ICANN Staff and have been totally ignored by
the ICANN Board.
I'm not a great fan of WIPO, but I do believe that
every group that petitions ICANN is entitled to a fair
hearing and to a timely and definitive response to a
petition.
Their most recent letter is posted below:
Dear Dr Cerf, Dr Twomey
I am contacting you to inquire about the status of the
recommendations made by WIPO in the context of the
Second WIPO Internet Domain Name Process (WIPO-2
Recommendations) to extend protection under the
Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP)
to country names and the names and acronyms of
International Intergovernmental Organisations (IGOs).
At the last WIPO General Assembly which took place in
Geneva from
September 26 to October 5, 2005, a number of
delegations expressed concern with regard to the
apparent lack of progress in the implementation of the
WIPO-2 Recommendations. These delegations also
requested the WIPO Secretariat to transmit this
concern to ICANN.
I would therefore be grateful if you could enable us
to inform our member States as to how ICANN intends to
proceed in this matter. As you will recall, the
WIPO-2 Recommendations were transmitted to ICANN in
February 2003. They were unanimously supported by
ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee on a number of
occasions. Unfortunately, the Working Group which
you established to consider implementation issues
focussed on issues other than implementation and,
unlike the Working Group that developed the UDRP on
the basis of WIPO's Recommendations
made in the context of the First WIPO Internet Domain
Name Process, failed to produce any agreed
recommendations.
At your request, WIPO subsequently submitted a
briefing note providing further information on the
issue as well as a draft confirming the (few)
additions that would have to be made to the UDRP in
order to implement the WIPO-2 Recommendations. The
Comment Forum that you established in December 2004
failed to trigger any substantive comments from the
public.
You will appreciate the concerns of countries with
regard to the abuse of their country's names
especially in new generic Top Level Domains. Please
also note the very real concerns of IGOs concerning
the protection of their names and acronyms which are a
vital prerequisite for them to perform their
functions. If anything, the abuse of IGO names and
acronyms has increased over the last years and has
caused a great deal of confusion among, and outright
fraud directed at, consumers. Regrettably, such abuse
also targets IGOs involved in humanitarian ,
development and health-related activities.
I hope that you will consider the issue further at
your next meeting in Vancouver. My colleague Mr
Christian Wichard will be attending the meeting and is
available to meet with you should you so require.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Your sincerely,
Francis Gurry
Deputy Director General
World Intellectual Property Organization
WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center
http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/msg01546.html
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