Re: Is this an open check for the registrars?
Registrars can already do that; you don't need a domain to be trademarked for that domain to be valuable. If one registrar decides to extort a user, they have that ability. Regulations try to prevent it, but not all of those regulations work.
As for ownership, things that are trademarked are never owned. Trademarks apply to things so small that you can't own it. Apple, the computer people, don't own the word or concept of an apple. Their trademark rights say that they can prevent people from using the word to name other computer products so people don't become confused about who actually made the thing. That right isn't perpetual or unlimited, and it in no way means they gain ownership over the word. Similarly, someone using a domain name as a trademark doesn't need to own a domain name, which of course they can't do anyway. If they don't have that domain name, their trademark application would likely be rejected because someone is already using the phrase; that would be a good thing to make explicit in law. That's why we have trademarks: to clarify who is using a thing that can't really be owned.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
