Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Statement of Commissioner Cioloş on domain names related to wine

Together with my colleague Neelie Kroes, I am following very closely on going developments on the moves by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to introduce two new internet domain names ".wine" and ".vin".

ICANN considers granting these new domain names without any specific safeguards for Geographical indications (GIs), as clearly requested by the European Commission and many governments. Under ICANN's proposal, everybody would be further allowed to apply for sub-domains such as chianti.wine, champagne.vin or porto.wine, including individuals or companies having no connection with these specific European wines.

This is simply not acceptable.

Geographical indications are a major priority in EU international trade negotiations. They represent a vital tool for protecting consumers and valorising the efforts of producers, not only in Europe, but in the whole world.

Under international rules (WTO) and several bilateral agreements with third countries, geographical indications and names of wines are protected as intellectual property rights.

This rule must be respected for the internet. In case of no agreement within ICANN to provide sufficiently robust safeguards for the introduction of new sub-domains, it would be preferable to avoid the creation of these domains altogether. I cannot imagine that a double standard would be applied.

Therefore, I will remain vigilant to make sure that we find a swift and suitable solution, meaning a solution that ensures consumers protection and the necessary legal and judicial protection of actors in the world economy. This is crucial not only to guarantee the credibility of the structures in charge of internet governance but also the long term credibility of internet itself.

http://ec.europa.eu/press_room

New extension of the domain names: turmoil concerning .AMAZON !

Having been appointed by ICANN to represent the interest of the online community as regard to the delegation of new extensions, the IO could take charge of questions concerning public interest and the community’s objections when none objected to the application.

The famous online marketplace highlighted that there is a conflict of interest arising from the close ties between the IO and the government representing the Amazonian communities (Brazil and Peru) whereas he can act only on behalf of Internet users. Thus, his objection would only aim at formalising the objection of the governments. Alain Pellet denied the charges by affirming that the link simply results from a “normal average social life”.

Read the article on gTLD.club:
http://gtld.club/2014/04/02/new-extension-of-the-domain-names-turmoil-concerning-amazon/

Lancer sa .BOUTIQUE, c’est maintenant

Le moment semble être le bon pour se lancer dans le développement d’une boutique en ligne. En effet, bien que l'on sache que de nouveaux noms de domaine sont lancés comme par exemple ceux se terminant en “.boutique”, il est tout de même utile de noter deux choses:
  1. Toutes les nouvelles extensions de noms de domaine liées à l’activité du shopping sur Internet ne sont pas encore toutes disponibles, et ne le seront pas avant quelques mois encore.
  2. Concevoir une boutique sur Internet implique aussi de prendre le temps de trouver le bon prestataire, le bon système de paiement en ligne, son design et surtout de finaliser son nouveau site Internet de façon à ce que les nouveaux acheteurs puissent consulter un produit “fini”.
Lire la suite sur le Journal Du Net.

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