Press Release
February 25, 1998

Contact:
Kathryn A. Kleiman
A-TCPIP/ Domain Name Rights Coalition
P.O. Box 25876
Alexandria, VA 22313-5876
703/518-5184
Email: kathryn@domain-name.org

Mikki Barry
President, A-TCPIP/DNRC
703/925-0282
Email: ooblick@domain-name.org

Domain Name Owners Lose Again: Domain Name Rights Coalition Criticizes New Dispute Policy of Network Solutions, Inc., for Continuing To Trample Rights of Domain Name Owners

ALEXANDRIA, VA- Today Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI), the U.S. Government contractor responsible for the registration of domain names in the .COM, .ORG, .NET, .EDU and .GOV categories, adopts a new Domain Name Dispute Policy (Policy) which further penalizes its tens of thousands of domain name customers. Under the new Policy, Network Solutions will continue to take away the domain names of small businesses, Internet Service Providers, community organizations and individuals (who use domain names for a variety of commercial, political and personal speech) when these domain names are challenged by large trademark owners.

According to General Counsel Kathryn A. Kleiman, "A few years ago NSI was concerned that it would be found guilty of trademark infringement if it did not take away domain names that matched trademarks - even if the trademarks covered common, ordinary dictionary words or common names which are trademarked dozens of times and open for all to use, such as "pony," "private" or "Peter." Recent cases have given NSI the protection it needs to be a registrar only and not to intervene in domain name/trademark conflicts. It is unconscionable that in the new Domain Name Dispute Policy, NSI does not pass on to its domain name customers the benefits of the new protections it now enjoys."

In recent cases, particularly Lockheed Martin vs. NSI (decided on November 17, 1997, by Judge Pregerson in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California), federal judges found that "something more than the registration of the name is required before the use of a domain name is infringing." The Lockheed Martin Court clarified the role of domain names by calling them addresses for locating specific computers and networks on the Internet and noted that domain names are used for many different "Internet based means of communications," of which identifying the source of goods and service is only one.

DNRC President Mikki Barry notes that the new Policy continues the oppressive rules of the old Policy. "For a total of 64 cents, any trademark holder can have innocent domain name holders put out of business. In Section 9 of the new dispute policy, NSI requires merely that trademark holders notify domain name holders of the existence of a trademark, claim harm, and send a copy to NSI. Unscrupulous groups make threats and unsubstantiated claims with alarming regularity."

Barry continues: "The Internet is the ONLY forum in which trademark holders need prove nothing yet can have a domain name revoked without so much as a requirement that the claim be reasonable."

NSI's new policy goes even further than their previous Domain Dispute Policy. Now, in NSI's sole discretion, domain names may be revoked, transferred, or registration can be terminated 30 days after the domain name holder receives a letter from NSI. Section 7.

DNRC General Counsel concludes: "NSI missed a real opportunity today to cater to its domain name customers and to put domain name/trademark disputes back where they belong - between the domain name owners and the trademark owners. Under today's Policy, NSI continues to give trademark owners the benefit of an injunction against the domain name without any proof of infringement or likelihood of confusion."

About Domain Name Rights Coalition:

DNRC is a working group of the Association for the Creation and Propagation of Internet Policies (A-TCPIP). Two years ago, A-TCPIP/DNRC was organized to respond to the first version of the NSI Policy, and sharply criticized the Policy for creating an environment which would lead to the mass loss of domain names by small business, entrepreneurs and individuals. The predictions have turned out to be accurate and DNRC regularly works with domain name owners who have received cease and desist letters against their domain names where there is no infringement or likelihood of confusion. DNRC also criticized the closed-door manner in which the first Policy, and its subsequent revisions, were created.

A-TCPIP also works with issues of Internet Governance, and its documents to the White House, Department of Commerce, World Intellectual Property Organization and other organizations can be found at its website, http://www.domain-name.org.

Revision 3.0 of NSI's Domain Name Dispute Policy, effective today, can be found at http://www.netsol.com/rs/dispute-policy.html.