The International Olympic Committee has got its members involved in a good old letter writing campaign to ICANN in its bid to get preferential treatment for words relating to the Olympics in any new top level domains when they are introduced.The Olympic Associations for Chile, Germany, France, Australia, India, Gambia and Sri Lanka have all written near identical letters in support of the request by the IOC for reservation of the words “Olympic” and “Olympiad” “in the domain name system”.The template letter also informs ICANN that “many nations around the world protect the words OLYMPIC and OLYMPIAD, in addition to the other words and symbols of the Olympic Movement.”The campaign is part of the IOC’s campaign, that often appears to verge on bullying, to get ICANN to introduce a reserved words list that includes protection for the words of the Olympic movement in any new TLDs.
Tag Archives: IOC
Olympic Committee Thinks It's God And Gets Grumpy With ICANN Over New gTLDs
The International Olympic Committee has written to ICANN stating its unhappiness with the new generic Top Level Domain process saying they “uniformly request – in the event that ICANN does proceed to launch an unlimited number of new gTLDs – that the Olympic trademarks, including OLYMPIC and OLYMPIAD, be placed on the reserved names list.” Continue reading Olympic Committee Thinks It's God And Gets Grumpy With ICANN Over New gTLDs
Olympic Committee Thinks It’s God And Gets Grumpy With ICANN Over New gTLDs
The International Olympic Committee has written to ICANN stating its unhappiness with the new generic Top Level Domain process saying they “uniformly request – in the event that ICANN does proceed to launch an unlimited number of new gTLDs – that the Olympic trademarks, including OLYMPIC and OLYMPIAD, be placed on the reserved names list.”In their opening paragraph the IOC also note they have “submitted eleven public comments to ICANN opposing its new gTLD program” and to date had not received a response.And if the IOC does not get what it wants, they say they “are prepared to employ all available legislative, regulatory, administrative and judicial mechanisms to hold ICANN accountable for damage caused to the Olympic Movement.”If the IOC had taken an interest in the process it would have undoubtedly realised that responding to every submission would be difficult and time consuming. But the IOC has form in being demanding.The IOC also notes they request – at least they did not say they “require” – “adequate rights protection measures necessary to quell an expected unprecedented level of cybersquatting and trademark infringement”. They are also grumpy these issues have been “relegated to consideration by the GNSO who they describe as having “no motivation to support effective trademark protection mechanisms and who actively aim to reduce accountability for intermediaries and legitimize cybersquatting.”The four page letter then waffles on with its usual list of complaints, expanding on the points above. They also claim the trademark clearing house is not an effective means of dealing with trademark infringements for them as the clearinghouse will only deal with “marks under existing treaties” that “undult discriminates against future Olympic Games, host cities and corresponding trademark rights.”The full text of the most recent letter to ICANN from the IOC is available at:
forum.icann.org/lists/5gtld-guide/pdfsTERbi7N96.pdf
ICANN Threatened by Olympic Committee Over Intellectual Property Concerns
The International Olympic Committee appears to think it has the rights to all sport, given a recent letter to ICANN that raises concerns on the .SPORT gTLD proposal in particular, and new gTLDs in general.
A letter from Urs Lacotte, director general of the IOC, and Howard Stupp, the IOC’s Legal Affairs Director, says they wish to discuss with ICANN these issues with ICANN and notes the IOC has “serious concerns” regarding “intellectual property protection.”
The IOC wants Olympic properties added to a list of reserved trademarks and considers “the speculative benefits of unlimited expansion of the domain name system represented by the proposed new gTLDs are outweighed by the risks, harms and costs it poses to trademark owners and the public.” In other words, the IOC considers their concerns paramount when it comes to the domain name system!
The letter also notes the IOC wishes to discuss include ICANN’s structure and operations and concludes saying “these statements should not be taken as a waiver of the IOC’s right to proceed against ICANN for damages resulting to the IOC or the Olympic Movement from the implementation of an unlimited number of new gTLDs.”
The IOC already gets preferential treatment with Network Solutions forbidding any domain registrations with any domain name containing IOC trademarks, according to a Domain Incite report, and has agreements with Sedo, Go Daddy and eBay to withdraw any infringing domain name auctions.
The letter from the IOC to ICANN is available from:
icann.org/correspondence/lacotte-to-beckstrom-16mar10-en.pdf