RE: [registrars] Single Letter Domains

["John Berryhill" <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> One question though is if
> the amount of gaming should imply that the legitimate 
> applicants should also be prevented from the process,

Normally, bodies such as ISO, IEEE, and so forth, require IP disclosure from
participants in standards activities.  Failure to do so has been found to be
a form of inequitable conduct or fraud.

The real nub here is - "Why would you use a non-existent domain name as a
mark?"  It's absurd.  To have your advertising direct people to an internet
address that doesn't exist?

Of course not.

The "use" of these non-existent domain trademarks was intentionally done for
the purpose of gaming the process:

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http://forum.icann.org/lists/allocationmethods/msg00026.html

A.	Achieving 'standing' as a qualified applicant:  Qualification of
parties to participate in the Allocation Process:  

Evidence of 'standing' should include prior activity, such as use as a
trademark or trade name, prima facie evidence of prior rights can be
established through ownership of a Principal Registration of a Trademark.
Prior rights can also be established through public use of the letter or
digit in a public marketing campaign for a period of more than two years
prior to the call for the Public Forum  on Allocation Methods for Single
Letter and Single digit Domain names [at the second level. ].   
--------------

These are like the tax code carve outs, which sound objective, but are in
fact tailored to define a particular interest.

The reference to the Principal Register in capital letters is, of course, a
reference that ONLY has meaning under US trademark law (the US registration
system defines a Principal Register and a Supplemental Register). 

This is why, as we've discussed here before, the notion of wasting the ICANN
community's time and efforts on a process designed to make some 20-odd
people happy is a colossal waste.  The fix is in, and the bottom line is
that if you weren't playing a particular game in the United States some
years back when this scheme was hatched, you can go back to whatever country
you came from and suck it up.