Re: [Ianaplan] control and negotiation (was Re: draft-ietf-ianaplan-icg-response-02 working group last call)

[John Curran <[e-mail]>]

On Nov 8, 2014, at 7:23 PM, Bernard Aboba <[e-mail]> wrote:
> 
> The owner of trademark can use it to assert ownership not only of a directly corresponding domain name, but also of similar names. 
> 
> However that does not necessarily imply that it is desirable for the IETF Trust to own the IANA trademark. Trademarks (particularly ones involving registrations in multiple countries) can be quite expensive to register and protect. So unless the Trust has examined the costs involved and finds them manageable, it might make more sense to focus on the conditions for transfer to a successor contractor.

It is not at all clear whether the IETF has any need to own the
IANA mark or domain; if the IETF determines that its use of the 
mark and domain are important to the protocol parameter function, 
then it only needs to ensure that it has the ability to use them -
that does not require ownership, only an appropriate agreement
providing for such use with the owner... (while there may be some
merit in being that owner, that is more than strictly necessary.)

/John

Disclaimer: my views alone.