However, these safeguards should not eviscerate other rights such as custom and use, free speech, and privacy. First, Advocacy agrees that improved domain name registration procedures would solve many difficulties. A centralized database would lower the costs of trademark owners and other interested parties of monitoring all the new gTLDs. The need for a centralized database is further increased if there are many gTLDs as Advocacy recommends. Furthermore, new registrations could query the centralized database as part of the registration process, and a list of similar registrations would be displayed which requests that the registrant review the listed pages to ensure that the registration is not violating the legal rights of other registrants.
Advocacy recognizes that there are privacy concerns inherent in such a database.
A registrants name, city, state, and country would appear but not the telephone number or address. Because contract information could be needed by third parties, such as trademark owners, they should have the option of contacting the registry and requesting the information. Upon satisfaction of good cause, the registry could then release the information directly to the requesting party. Advocacy believes that this system, or a variant thereof, will preserve privacy rights while allowing contact information to be gained for legal action. It should be clearly understood that while Advocacy believes safeguards are need to protect trademark rights, it is also our view that they should not be used as a means to expand trademark protection beyond current limits.