"Latin characters are currently exclusively used for domain name addresses on the Internet; this results in the exclusion of large numbers of non-English speakers to whom English is a completely foreign language," Mr. Charles Sha'ban, Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP) Regional Office executive director said at a specialized seminar held February 26-27, 2005, in Amman.
The seminar, entitled "Contemporary Issues in Trademarks," was organized by the Arab Society for Intellectual Property (ASIP) and the Center for Consultation, Technical Services and Studies in the University of Jordan.
Mr. Sha'ban tackled the Domain Name System (DNS) in his presentation explaining the different types of domain names, including Generic Domain Names (gTLDs), such as .com, .net, and .org; Country Code Domain Names (ccTLDs), such as .jo, .lb, and .uk; and Sponsored Domain Names (sTLDs), such as .pro, .travel, and .post.
Meanwhile, deployment of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) and multilingulaization of the Internet was also discussed. Mr. Sha'ban focused on challenges trademark owners may face in protecting their marks when registering IDNs.
"In the Arab world alone, approximately 90 percent of the population is unable to read Latin characters, but the number of Internet users is dramatically increasing," he said.
He added that language of the Internet, including domain names, must reflect this multi-linguistic usage.
Mr. Sha'ban also elaborated on the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) adopted by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is used to solve trademark-based domain-name disputes.
Meanwhile, Dr. Kanan Al Ahmar, Attorney-at-Law from Al Ahmar & Partners, Syria, and researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition, and Tax Law, Germany, tackled licensing and franchising, well-known trademarks, and the difference between the Madrid Agreement (1981) and the Madrid Protocol (1989).
Other speakers included Judge Hazem Al-Smadi, Chief Judge of the First Instant Court and head of Development Directorate of the Ministry of Justice, Jordan; Dr. Abdulla Khashroom, Associate Professor of Commercial Law at the College of Law in Mo'ta University, Jordan, and Dr.
Christian Czychowski and Dr. Volker Schmitz-Fohrmann, Attorneys-at-Law with Boehmert & Boehmert, Germany.