Cyber DMC

A Deed of Mutual Covenants (DMC) sets out interest, rights and obligations among owners or occupiers of a multi-unit estate. People and businesses try to get connected over cyberspace but there is no DMC-like arrangement that regulates or facilitates their e-connections although internet addresses or labels might look similar. Instead of bumping into wrong contacts, it would be desirable to have foolproof access like a direct point-to-point telephone line.

There are continuous fundamental, incremental, breakthrough or disruptive innovation to goods and services, improving our lives. Business proprietors register their trademarks at the physical territorial level, but the use of trademarks and domain names in cyberspace is quite borderless. Perhaps, there should be some kind of control on practices among "digital marks" holders.

As innovation and marketing are hard, there are always free riders looking for opportunities to pass off others' intellectual and marketing effort to get customers. This can be done eg by enabling internet search ranking results to appear above or with market leaders. Customers can get confused as to who's who in the world?

".Trademark" (in simplified Chinese characters) is a new generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) approved by the International Association for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). If a trademark is registered with the ".Trademark" gTLD, customers searching the website address would reach the identical rather than similar trademark proprietor. Its effect is like calling a direct line.

So, what are the principles and rules for the gTLD Registrar to register the trademarks then? In order to prevent free riding, the Registrar has been applying common acquisition principles, rules and processes of trade marks and domain names. I am going to co-chair a non-profit "Policy Committee" to refine the cyber DMC alongside other world distinguished experts in the fields.

The Committee's mission is to establish a structure and details that ensure legitimate and fair competition of digital marks in cyberspace. As the World Intellectual Property Day is approaching, the Registrar's key activities also gather momentum. I see my role to help develop international standards and norms turning problems into progress, as the world's communication revolution continues to unfold!