Re: PAB The Green Paper and competing registries

Jim Dixon (jdd@vbc.net)
Sat, 28 Feb 1998 20:50:10 +0000 (GMT)


On Fri, 27 Feb 1998, Perry E. Metzger wrote:

> > > > We had a meeting with the Department of Trade and Industry in London
> > > > last week. The one point that the chair of the meeting was emphatic
> > > > about was that no-competition was a non-starter.
> > >
> > > How is CORE no competition? Seems like a competitive system to me.
> >
> > Just one gTLD registry = one vendor in a market = no competition.
>
> CORE is not a vendor. At very best, its a thin crust of organization
> molded around a couple of Sparcstations.

I know what CORE is.

There is very little time left in this debate. If you want to win,
you cast your arguments in terms that the DTI will understand
and accept.

To the DTI monopolies are bad and competition is good. If you can
convince the DTI (and other similar bodies in Europe) that the
Green Paper creates monopolies and that the gTLD MOU is pro-
competition, you will have their support.

Despite claims to the contrary, the DTI has been consistently against
the gTLD MOU from the beginning. This is not the position of just
one person; it's the view of everyone I have ever talked to at the
DTI. Most believe that there should be no new gTLDs at all. They
have been thoroughly won over by the arguments of the trademark
lobbyists.

Personally, I am reasonably familiar with the relevant bits of the
UK government (the DTI and the Patent Office) and the European
Commission. I don't have first hand knowledge of attitudes at
other national governments. But my impression from talking to
people who do have such first hand information is that attitudes
towards the gTLD MOU are mixed.

--
Jim Dixon                  VBCnet GB Ltd           http://www.vbc.net
tel +44 117 929 1316                             fax +44 117 927 2015