I don't know, as I don't believe I've been vague at all.
I had plenty of people call me up and ask about the .eu launch months in advance and my advice, free for the asking, was "It looks as if you set up a corporation in the EU and file Benelux TM applications, then you'd have a shot at securing a .eu name." You'll see the same dialog on the International Trademark Association mailing list. I don't set up EU corporations, nor do I assist in filing Benelux TM applications, so it was no skin off my nose what people chose to do.
I don't think you understand where I'm coming from. You seem outraged, today, at a train wreck which was clearly predictable months and months ago.
If you like history, then read what I wrote about the foolishness of sunrise periods six years ago:
http://www.icann.org/dnso/wgb-report...tm#Attachment3 Quote:
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If you bothered to read my previous post you could have seen that my beef is not with last hour esteblished "phantom legal entities", but with Eurid allowing obviously bogus trademarks as a perfectly valid basis on which one could apply domain claims in Sunrise period.
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Your beef appears to be with the way the Benelux TM registration is set up. I do not profess to any expertise in the Benelux system. I understand generally that it has entirely different standards and requirements than, for example, the US TM registration system, so I haven't reached a conclusion on whether any particular application was or was not "bogus".
My objection is that the Eurid rules themselves were bogus - they were stupid rules written by stupid people, and they are yielding stupid results.
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Again you are talking about "technicalities" without addressing the "issue" as to why these TM applications were submitted to Benelux TM office in the first place.
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Well, golly, the Benelux TM office invited people to do so, and specifically promised that applications filed by a certain date would be processed in time for the .eu application process. Now, they are free to run their system the way they'd like, but it was beyond stupid for Eurid to set the rules up the way they did when you can get perfectly "non bogus" rights under the Benelux system.
It's just an odd fact of sovereignty that countries can set up their legal system however they'd like. Concerning US states in our federal system, the same thing applies. My wife and I were married in Nevada because it was quick, cheap, and simple. I really don't feel like my marriage is thus "bogus".
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The .EU has no right to judge if one trademark has more merit or higher standing than another.
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Give the man a prize.
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That smacks of typical and quintesential interpretation of the corporate American bullshit which is taken as a gospel in your professional circles.
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People in my professional circles are generally stuck up a-holes who don't waste their time answering questions for free on internet bulletin boards, I'll tell you that much. To 99.99% of the legal profession
YOU are not worth the dirt under their well manicured fingernails.
I didn't, and won't, make one thin dime off of the .eu launch, but I had no illusions that the rules were screwed from the get-go.
It's not just Benelux that has a screwy TM registration system. France also hands them out for virtually nothing, but they move slower. If you look back at, for example, the paint.biz STOP proceeding, you'll notice that it was premised on a perfectly valid French TM registration.
The problem is that the TM nazis have invested decades of effort into skewing rules in various countries in what they perceived to be their advantage, and now its biting them in the ass with domain name launch proceedings, because the "wrong" people have figured out their game. Too bad, so sad.
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Can I apply and be granted quick rights to 100s of simultaneous bogus trademarks in Delaware? Do tell?
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Delaware corporate name reservations are 10 bucks a pop. Here, knock yourself out:
https://sos-res.state.de.us/tin/EntitySearch.jsp