Comments in Response to the Secretariat's Questionnaire on the Protection of Country Names in the Domain Name System
Secretariat
World Intellectual Property. Organization (WIPO)
34, chemin des Colombettes, 1211, Geneva 20, Switzer1and.
Dear Sirs I Madams,
The State Agency on Industrial Property Protection have the honor to send you herewith the comments as regards the questionnaire on the Protection of Country Names in the Domain System, that have been elaborated in collaboration with the National Regulatory Agency in Telecommunications and Informatics.
Should any questions arise, please, feel free to contact us.
Sincerely yours,
Ion Daniliue,
First Deputy Director General
Questionnaire on the protection of
country names in the domain name system
i. How should the name of a country be identified (for example, by reference to the United Nations Terminology Bulletin, ISO Standard 3166, or by some other method) and should both the long and short names of countries be protected ?
A country name should be identified by reference to ISO Standard 3166 and both the long and short names of countries should be protected.
ii. In what languages should country names be protected ?
Country names should be protected in all official languages of the United Nations Organisation (UNO) and in language of the certain country, even if this language is not an official language of the UNO.
iii. To what domains should any protection be extended (for example, to all, both existing and future, gTLDs, only to future gTLDs, also to ccTLDs, etc.)?
The protection should be extended to all domains.
iv. How should any alleged acquired rights be treated ?
The question is not clear.
v. What mechanism should be used to implement protection (for example, the UDRP or some other mechanism) ?
Some limitations should be applied to those who use the country names or domain names with the purpose of their defamation.
vi. Should any protection extend to the exact country name only or also to misleading variations ?
The protection should be extended to both the exact country name and misleading variations.
vii. Should protection be absolute or should it be dependent upon a showing of bad faith ?
The protection should be absolute.