Open Letter to ICANN concerning new gTLDs

[brianluedke]

Hey folks, ICANN does respond to public sentiment, especially if it is massive. Please consider writing your own letter (personalized, of course) :

Subject: No new gTLD
From: "Brian Luedke"
Date: Sun, April 1, 2007 9:56 am
To: comments@icann.org

Dear ICANN,

As the trademark holder of Sénégal.com, I am writing to beg you not to add
any more gTLD's, such as the .info's and .biz's.

Trademark owners should not be compelled to spend hundreds of dollars
every year to register their trademarks in every domain.

Most consumers have a difficult time remembering that .Net is different
from .Com, which explains why almost all companies either use .Com or a
ccTLD.

New gTLD's will only benefit you, as you collect fees for each domain
registered as trademark holders spend hundreds to protect their trademark.

Yours Sincerely,

Brian Luedke

--
www.Sénégal.com (http://www.xn--sngal-bsab.com)
www.lafrique.com (http://www.lafrique.com/)

[domainguru]

Hey folks, ICANN does respond to public sentiment, especially if it is massive. Please consider writing your own letter (personalized, of course) :

Subject: No new gTLD
From: "Brian Luedke"
Date: Sun, April 1, 2007 9:56 am
To: comments@icann.org

Dear ICANN,

As the trademark holder of Sénégal.com, I am writing to beg you not to add
any more gTLD's, such as the .info's and .biz's.

Trademark owners should not be compelled to spend hundreds of dollars
every year to register their trademarks in every domain.

Most consumers have a difficult time remembering that .Net is different
from .Com, which explains why almost all companies either use .Com or a
ccTLD.

New gTLD's will only benefit you, as you collect fees for each domain
registered as trademark holders spend hundreds to protect their trademark.

Yours Sincerely,

Brian Luedke

--
www.Sénégal.com (http://www.xn--sngal-bsab.com)
www.lafrique.com (http://www.lafrique.com/)

Is that an April fool? As the .com owner, you should be encouraging each and every new TLD.

[brianluedke]

Why?

[domainguru]

Why?

Because the more TLDs registered, the more valuable your .com is.

Also "begging ICANN" - what is that all about?

Why on earth would you be worried about the existence of Sénégal.biz or Sénégal.info. They are 2nd division names. You have the premership name. Chill.

[Drewbert]

Who issued you a trademark for a geographic term?

[alpha]

this is the dumbest thing i have ever heard

[blastfromthepast]

You can't trademark Sénégal. Its a geographic name.

[brianluedke]

To domainguru - I know in the short term, it looks nice when there are a lot of TLDs of your name registered. But in the long term, when you will have everything from a gTLD ".tree" to a ".world", people will eventually start using these domains, and dot com will loses its status as the default domain in people's minds. Instead of just automatically plugging in the .com, people will have to pay attention to the top-level domain or they won't get the address right. When .com loses its default status with ordinary people, .com names will lose value.

Okay, maybe "beg" was poor word choice.

To Drewbert- The United States Patent and Trademark Office. My application is still going through, but other names like southafrica.com have been accepted. It's not a geographic name by itself, it's the geographic name + the .com

See : http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=tess&state=4f2dtn.1.1

[domainguru]

This is definitely April 1st. If you think .com will lose its value because .info and .biz are "allowed", you have been on the wrong planet for the last 10 years. Go and read up on domain names.

Also, if you don't have a tm, why are you telling ICANN you do? Not good :(

[brianluedke]

Hey, maybe you're right. Maybe I'm an ignorant, damn fool.

[blastfromthepast]

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
EXAMINATION GUIDE NO. 2-99
MARKS COMPOSED, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, OF DOMAIN NAMES

When a trademark, service mark, collective mark or certification mark is composed, in whole or in part, of a domain name, neither the beginning of the URL (http://www.) nor the TLD have any source indicating significance.

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/tac/notices/guide299.htm

[brianluedke]

This is definitely April 1st. If you think .com will lose its value because .info and .biz are "allowed", you have been on the wrong planet for the last 10 years. Go and read up on domain names.

Also, if you don't have a tm, why are you telling ICANN you do? Not good :(

Do a search for "senegal" at the site I listed above.

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
EXAMINATION GUIDE NO. 2-99
MARKS COMPOSED, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, OF DOMAIN NAMES

When a trademark, service mark, collective mark or certification mark is composed, in whole or in part, of a domain name, neither the beginning of the URL (http://www.) nor the TLD have any source indicating significance.

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/tac/notices/guide299.htm

Search for southafrica.com at the site you just quoted.

[blastfromthepast]

Word Mark SÉNÉGAL.COM XN--SNGAL-BSAB.COM
Goods and Services IC 039. US 100 105. G & S: Providing a website that features information on beach tourism. FIRST USE: 20030731. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20050523
Standard Characters Claimed
Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Design Search Code
Serial Number 77093046
Filing Date January 28, 2007
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1A
Owner (APPLICANT) Brian Scott Luedke INDIVIDUAL UNITED STATES XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Type of Mark SERVICE MARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE

[brianluedke]

Word Mark SÉNÉGAL.COM XN--SNGAL-BSAB.COM
Goods and Services IC 039. US 100 105. G & S: Providing a website that features information on beach tourism. FIRST USE: 20030731. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20050523
Standard Characters Claimed
Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Design Search Code
Serial Number 77093046
Filing Date January 28, 2007
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1A
Owner (APPLICANT) Brian Scott Luedke INDIVIDUAL UNITED STATES XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Type of Mark SERVICE MARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE

NEWZEALAND.COM is another example of a "live" trademark registration.

[touchring]

Do a search for "senegal" at the site I listed above.



Search for southafrica.com at the site you just quoted.


Hi brian, can you tell us which service you used to register that trademark?

[domainguru]

Do a search for "senegal" at the site I listed above.



Search for southafrica.com at the site you just quoted.

I'm sorry, but begging ICANN not to launch any more TLDs just because you happen to own the .com marks you out as an April Fool's idiot, and a very greedy one at that.

[brianluedke]

I'm sorry, but begging ICANN not to launch any more TLDs just because you happen to own the .com marks you out as an April Fool's idiot, and a very greedy one at that.

Why are you repeating yourself? Didn't you see my last post in reponse to your comment?

Hi brian, can you tell us which service you used to register that trademark?

I did it myself. I probably did it all wrong and the application will get rejected.

[mulligan]

Well you have run the gauntlet and are still here ... many would be long gone so congrats for that ... :)

As for your concern about other extensions 'devaluing' your .com that won't happen, at least not in your lifetime so i wouldn't worry about it. It is the generally accepted view and has been seen to be true that the more extensions your .com is registered in the more your .com will increase in value.

BTW, ICANN don't care so I wouldn't waste my time writing to them.

[blastfromthepast]

 

[domainguru]

Why are you repeating yourself? Didn't you see my last post in reponse to your comment?

I am still waiting for your answer as to why you think other TLDs will harm your .com

[Drewbert]

>Maybe I'm an ignorant, damn fool.

Well, you probably need to be aware that claiming you have a trademark when all you have done is applied for one is a federal offense.

And almost certainly anti-competitive.

>It's not a geographic name by itself, it's the geographic name + the .com

If you do, somehow, manage to get this trademark, it will certainly not give you any TM rights over "Senegal" and will thus be absolutely useless in trying to (misguidedly) prevent other people from registering senegal.info etc etc.

And since ICANN itself has registered Senegal.info, writing a letter to them begging them to not allow the registration of it is pretty damn funny.

And since xn--sngal-bsab.info was registered WAY before you bothered to apply for TM registration......

[thegenius1]

There are surely some funny ass people that come through here from time to time , never fails.

[bwhhisc]

There are surely some funny ass people that come through here from time to time , never fails.

But his thread sparked good discussion about trademarks, logic, and .com valuation analysis
so consider you have gained a bit of business knowledge from the experience.