On Jun 19, 2011, at 5:46 PM, Mark Andrews wrote:
I would guess that most of these are going to be purchased simply to prevent someone else from getting them I would agree with this part.
I suspect you underestimate the desires and power of marketing folks at larger organizations.
Adding gtlds and opening up the root to brands effectively requires TM holders to register/bid to protect their TM rights.
Not really. You might want to search on "trademark" in http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/rfp-clean-30may11-en.pdf. There has been a tremendous amount of traffic on that particular issue and that is reflected in the Applicant Guidebook.
It will be even more interesting if ICANN looses and has to roll back brand delegations it has made.
Really, if you're going to opine on the disasters that will befall ICANN as a result of the new gTLD program, you might want to actually read what that program does and doesn't do. Really. Regards, -drc