--- Date: Thu, 7 Mar 2002 14:04:22 -0800 (PST) From: Joe Baptista <baptistaat_private> To: <publicat_private> cc: <declanat_private> Subject: Your Recent E-Mail to Commerce Secretary Donald Evans (fwd) let the games begin this reply is in reference to http://www.dot-god.com/information/doc-jan-21-2002.html ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 07 Mar 2002 12:15:53 -0500 From: Kathy Smith <ksmithat_private> To: baptista@dot-god.com Subject: Your Recent E-Mail to Commerce Secretary Donald Evans Dear Mr. Baptista: Thank you for your electronic mail message to Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans expressing your concerns about the introduction of new top level domains by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Secretary Evans forwarded your message to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for a response because the agency serves as his principal advisor on telecommunications and information policy issues, including the transition to private sector management of the Internet domain name system. On November 16, 2000, ICANN selected seven new top level domains for introduction into the Internet domain name system - - .aero, .biz, .coop, .info, .museum, .name, and .pro. ICANN is now in the process of evaluating its selection process prior to any additional rounds of selection. Thus, your concerns about the potential introduction of new top level domains for ".god" and ".satan" are more appropriately directed to ICANN. With respect to your assertion of intellectual property rights in either a ".god" or ".satan" top level domain, I direct your attention to Examination Guide No. 2-99, "Marks Composed, in Whole or in Part, of Domain Names," (Sept. 29, 1999) issued by Department of Commerce's Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). This guide is available on PTO's web site at http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/tac/notices/guide299.htm. In general, PTO has determined that a top level domain name, when used as a registry under which lower-level domain names are registered, does not function as a source identifier subject to service-mark rights. See also Image Online Design, Inc. v CORE Association, 120 F. Supp. 2d 870 (C.D. Cal. 2000). Sincerely, Kathy Smith, Chief Counsel, NTIA ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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