[ga] PUBLICROOT REPRESENTATIVE NOTICE - VALIDATION OF PHILIPS TLD FAILED

[Joe Baptista <baptista@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The following notice (and exhibits) are permanently indexed at the 
following URL:
http://www.publicroot.org/correspondence/PR-NOTICE-Sept-24-2007.pdf

The following is an ascii copy of the notice. It does not contain any 
exhibits.
PUBLICROOT REPRESENTATIVE NOTICE

VALIDATION OF PHILIPS TLD FAILED
September 24, 2007


This is a public notice to the Inclusive Name Space community and other 
interested third parties. Distribution of this notice is encouraged and 
unlimited. This notice shall be distributed to the Directors of the Top 
Level Domain Association, INAIC (Internet Names Authorization & 
Information Center), UN1D (Unified Names #1 Distributor), the Federal 
Trade Commission, Royal Philips Electronics and various community lists. 
A permanent copy of this notice shall be posted to the PublicRoot 
Consortium web site.

Investigation and findings:

The PublicRoot Representative conducted an investigation and audit into 
the creation and publication of the INS (Inclusive Name Space) TLD 
(Top-Level Domain) label “PHILIPS”. INAIC published this TLD to the INS 
on an unknown date. The whois record at INAIC is incorrect and lists the 
TLD registration date as February 22, 2009. The TLD is active for a term 
of eleven years and it expires on February 22, 2018. The whois records 
at INAIC show Royal Philips Electronics N.V., a multinational company 
incorporated in the Netherlands, as the official registrant of this TLD.
On June 23, 2007 INAIC further published this TLD to the INAIC news 
list. This is an email distribution list. The email announcement from 
INAIC claims the TLD “PHILIPS” is registered to Royal Philips and 
further claims “Royal Philips Electronics N.V. of the Netherlands is a 
global leader in healthcare, lifestyle and technology, delivering 
products, services and solutions through the brand promise of SENSE AND 
SIMPLICITY”. A copy of this notice is attached as an exhibit.
The PublicRoot Representative contacted Royal Philips on August 27, 2007 
to validate the TLD. The PublicRoot Representative attempted to contact 
the administrative representative responsible for the TLDs as per the 
published whois records at INAIC. This record shows the registrant and 
administrative contact to be a Andrea Ragnetti of Royal Philips 
Electronics N.V., and the mailing address is given as P.O. Box 218, 
Building SFF- 104, Eindhoven, NB, 5600 MD in the Netherlands.
Mr. Andrea Ragnetti is the Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Executive 
Officer of Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care and a member of 
the Board of Management. Philips legal council advised that Mr. Ragnetti 
name would not be used as an administrative contact on domain names 
owned by Philips.
Furthermore, the PublicRoot Representative spoke with Ms. Gerie Lamphen 
secretary to Mr. Ragnetti. Ms. Lamphen confirmed that Mr. Ragnetti had 
no knowledge of the TLD registration with INAIC or UN1D and therefore 
DID NOT AUTHORIZE the creation and publication of the INS TLD label 
“PHILIPS” with either INAIC.com or any agent of INAIC.
Mr. Jasper Haas Name Counsel with the Philips Intellectual Property & 
Standards department is currently investigating the claims made by INAIC.
The PublicRoot Representative therefore finds that the INAIC whois 
record for “PHILIPS” is a bogus INS TLD record. The current whois 
records for “PHILIPS” is attached to this notice as an exhibit.
The PublicRoot Representative issued a verbal request to Martijn Burger, 
chairman of the INAIC society and foundation, that Herman Xennt, 
operator of INAIC.com, immediately remove all references to TLD label 
“PHILIPS” from the public DNS infrastructure and whois service. The 
PublicRoot Representative warns INAIC.com that the continued display of 
trademarks and brands names as TLDs without authorization is a 
fraudulent act. Furthermore the use of the name Andrea Ragnetti is 
considered impersonation and therefore fraudulent.
On September 21, 2007 the PublicRoot Representative asked Burger to have 
Herman Xennt provide supporting evidence of the TLD registration, 
including accounting records of any payment made for the “PHILIPS” TLD 
labels.
Herman Xennt made a change to the whois record this September 23 2007. 
However the TLD label was not removed from the DNS and whois. The record 
was amended to reflect the TLD is now a PRIVATE REGISTRATION. This 
effectively removed the contact details from the record but continues to 
advertise the Philips trademark and brand names. A copy of the amended 
whois record is attached to this notice as an exhibit.
On September 23, 2007 the PublicRoot Representative contacted Burger to 
confirm Herman Xennt had changed the record to a PRIVATE REGISTRATION. 
Mr. Burger was advised this was not acceptable as the trademarks and 
brand name of Philips were still being used. Mr. Burger agreed to pursue 
the matter with Herman Xennt.

Legal Concerns:

The mission of the PublicRoot Representative is to ensure the integrity 
of the data and claims made in the INS. The system must at all times be 
operated in an honest, open, transparent fashion. It must be inclusive, 
representative & accountable to community stakeholders in particular and 
in general to the Internet community at large.
The PublicRoot Representative expresses concern that INAIC, a body 
claiming to be an INS provider and wrongly claiming to be the central 
INS authority, is engaged in an unfair and deceptive business act or 
practice. INAIC has used Philips trademarks and brand names to further 
the sale of INS TLDs through INAIC.com and it’s agents.
Furthermore consumers who find the multinational company Philips 
associated with an INS TLD assume falsely that INAIC.com or its agents 
are credible. TLD Holders who have purchased TLDs under this false 
assumption are victims of a scam by INAIC.com. Philips has also been a 
victim in this scam as their trademarks and brand names continue to be 
used without authorization to further the sale of TLDs.
Furthermore the act of listing bogus TLD labels in the whois and DNS by 
INAIC is considered by the PublicRoot Representative to be Internet 
fraud. This act causes harm to the reputation and credibility of the INS 
community at large.
Furthermore from a technical point of view the PublicRoot Representative 
is concerned that these labels use the INAIC.com web proxy to effect 
resolution for INS users. This represents a potential security issue 
known as a man in the middle attack. Web users connecting to 
unauthorized INS TLD labels can have their personal information compromised.

Actions Taken and Requested:

The PublicRoot Representative requests that INAIC.com remove all 
references to the “PHILIPS” TLD label from their web sites, whois 
databases and DNS records.
The PublicRoot Representative further requests that the Directors of the 
Top Level Domain Association investigate this breach of trust by 
INAIC.com and it’s agents. The PublicRoot Representative hereby submits 
this notice as a complaint to the Top Level Domain Association.
The PublicRoot Representative further requests that the Federal Trade 
Commission (FTC) Bureau of Consumer Protection file this notice as an 
fraud-related complaint and that the complaint be entered into the 
Consumer Sentinel online databases available to civil and criminal law 
enforcement agencies worldwide.
This notice, complaint and any requests made in this document are on 
behalf of the PublicRoot Representative who assumes full responsibility 
for this publication. Philips did not participate in its publication 
except to provide the PublicRoot Representative with evidence on the INS 
TLD registrations claimed by INAIC.


PublicRoot Representative Notice
Submitted by Joe Baptista

PublicRoot Representative
5921 Agean Drive
Mississauga, Ontario L5M 6Y3, Canada

Tel: +1 (360) 526-6077 / +1 (202) 517-1593
Fax: +1 (509) 479-0084
Email: baptista@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx


--
Joe Baptista                                www.publicroot.org
PublicRoot Consortium
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