Message from .pro Advisory Board to Louis Touton Regarding Amendment to .pro Registry Agreement

(15 November 2002)

Subject: Registry Pro - Advisory Board Statement re Modification to Registry Agreement
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002
From: Ron Usher
To: Louis Touton
CC: Cassidy Sehgal

Dear Mr. Touton:

I hereby submit the following statement on behalf of the RegistryPro Advisory Board. The RegistryPro Advisory Board is made up of representatives of legal, medical, and accountancy professional associations.

We understand that RegistryPro has requested a modification of its Registry Agreement with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to provide for defensive name registrations (the "Defensive Registration Proposal"). We understand that these registrations will not resolve within the Domain Name System, and will not, thus, be usable as domain names.

Rather, the primary purpose of the Defensive Registration Proposal is to provide trademark registration holders the ability to ensure that strings that are identical to the word portions of their trademark registrations are not available for registration within the .pro top-level domain.

The Defensive Registration Proposal is also intended to provide potentially qualified registrants (in countries other than those for which a local verification toolkit will be available at launch) with the ability to reserve (but not activate) registrations. In this latter situation, we understand that no Defensive Name Registration will become a live registration unless and until local verification standards (about which we will provide advice) are in place and are satisfied by the applicant.

We have reviewed the Defensive Registration Proposal and believe that it will be helpful in avoiding unnecessary trademark-related and other conflicts as the .pro top-level domain begins operation.

We support RegistryPro's proposal.

Please call if you have any questions or concerns.

Ron Usher

R. Usher, Staff Lawyer / V.P. & C.I.O., Juricert Services Inc.
The Law Society of British Columbia

"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat,
and wrong." - H.L. Mencken

Page Updated 30-Nov-2002
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