Re: Internet domain name controversies

On 10/02/96, Mario Heilmann <mheilman[_at_]a3.com> wrote:
>
> Anyone up-to-date on the domain name issue?
> (if not, check out
>
> http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/Domain_Registration/Domain_Name_Controversies/

And also check out http://www.patents.com/nsi.sht .

> I got worried, because there is no doubt that a generic and smple domain
> name like a3 certainly has been trademarked or servicemarked somewhere.

Yes, probably, somewhere in the world.

> Do I understand this right, anyone who has A3 Pizza in Boston, A3 car
> repairs in Rome, etc can come and request my comain and Internic will
> put me and all my work on hold until the cours decide, and I will have
> to fork out thousands for lawyers?

Yes, and in many cases (the majority of them) the case never gets decided by a court. In practical terms, your domain name is cut off forever.

> I understand that in the normal world Miller Brewery and Miller Autobody
> can peacefully coexist, because they do not compete with each other in
> any way.

Yes, that's right.

> Which of the 10,000 different holders of the a3 trademark can sue me?
> Is it first come first serve?

Suing isn't the issue, because if you're not doing anything wrong they won't get very far suing you. The issue is NSI's flawed domain name policy, which puts you at constant and imminent risk of loss of your domain name even if you aren't doing anything wrong.

> Can I trademark a3.com, with the com included, so nobody could possibly
> have this trademarked? My services are advertising boards, dating,
> chat, etc on the web, and whatever service I might want to do in the
> future. It is mainly geared towards Brazil, and I have labored a lot to
> get exposure and am quite well known there.
>
> I understand that if I can register the service mark in Brazil, this
> would protect me, too. I am worried if I register this in the US, the
> very process of publishing the registration might trigger exactly what I
> want to prevent, namely someone's attention being called and trying to
> take my domain away from me.

You would need to obtain a nationally-registered trademark registration. Under NSI's flawed policy, no other protection will work. Well, that's not exactly true. Another way to protect yourself is to sue NSI (or, possibly, the trademark owner who took NSI up on their offer to cut off your domain name).

> Anyway, is there any chance that the courts will decide that internet
> domain names are just addresses? Until then, the only safe domain names
> are things like xy4f-83gbytz.com. Anything else is certainly trademarked
> somewhere in the world.

No, that's not what is needed. What is needed is for a court to order NSI to scrap its flawed policy. Or, for NSI to surprise us all and appreciate the horrible way it treats domain name owners and scrap its policy.

> I got my own domain name exactly because I wanted to have aname I could
> keep independent of providers. And now it seems to be insecure. Are
> hundreds of thousands of internet domain names in limbo now??

Yes, nearly all of the half a million domain name owners in COM and NET and ORG are at constant risk of loss of their domain names, due to NSI's flawed policy.

---
Carl Oppedahl, Oppedahl & Larson, patent law firm
http://www.patents.com/ has hundreds of pages of answers to 
frequently asked questions on patent, copyright, and trademark law