IT'S GOOD to see that various mailing lists have actively been discussing the case of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. against Gerry Kaimo, webmaster of www.pldt.com and the Philippine League for Democratic Telecommunications Inc. (PLDTI), one of PLDT's staunchest critics. It shows that the Filipinos' level of awareness regarding such matters, which could shape the Internet landscape, is on the upswing.

The case is being discussed not only in cyberspace but in various forms of media as well. And the discussion is not limited to propellerheads--even our next-door neighbor who has yet to surf the Internet once talked to me about it.

Yes, even those who know diddly squat about the whole issue are becoming vocal about domain names all of a sudden, especially in media. Unfortunately, most of them are making even bigger fools of themselves, mainly because they rely on press releases to make their argument.

Well, here's some food for thought.

The PLDT website at www.pldt.com.ph has been up at least a year before Kaimo secured the ownership of www.pldt.com. Why didn't PLDT get the pldt.com domain? They couldn't because it was owned, back then, by WebScape Philippines Inc.

WebScape's registration lapsed around June of 1998, but PLDT failed to acquire it. Kaimo was quick, and registered the www.pldt.com domain under his name when he found out that it was available. The acquisition of the rights to the domain name was perfectly legal and was honored by US-based Network Solutions Inc., which is in charge of top-level domain name registry worldwide.

As they say, tough luck for PLDT.

Now PLDT is suing Kaimo and PLDTI for trademark infringement, noting the "malicious" use of the acronym "PLDT" and the use of the PLDT trademark in Kaimo's site.

Is the telco giant saying that since "PLDT" is a registered trademark, their right to that acronym extends to domain names such as "www.pldt.com?"

Well, a visit to the US Patent and Trademark Office's website at http://trademarks.uspto.gov/access/search-adv.html shows that "PLDT" is trademarked by the Professional Long Drivers Tour. It was even reported that their logo actually resembles that of PLDT but it includes a golf ball!

In one of the mailing lists I subscribe to, it was even reported that there exists a "www.pldt.to" (country domain for the Kingdom of Tonga). It is reportedly owned by an Australian travel operator who intends to run a site called Philippine Long Distance Travel.

PLDT also argues that the "PLDT" acronym, since it is trademarked, cannot be used in meta tags. Meta tags are HTML (hypertext markup language) tags that give information describing the content of the webpages a user will be viewing. Website administrators use this to control their site's positioning and descriptions in search engine results. Many search engines read meta tags as part of their indexing formulas.

Thus, if a Netsurfer types in a query or search for "PLDT," chances are the search engine would show entries for both PLDT's corporate website and that of Kaimo's anti-PLDT site. By barring Kaimo and anyone else to use the trademarked acronym "PLDT" in meta tags, the telephone company is trying to ensure that anyone who keys in the letters "PLDT" in the query bar of a search engine would be led to the PLDT corporate website instead of Kaimo's or that of the Professional Long Drivers Tour or the website of the Philippine Long Distance Travel in Tonga or that of the Pinagkaisang Lipon ng mga Drayber sa Tondo.

This is why the PLDT domain name case is far-reaching. Should the letters "PLDT" be banned from use by anyone on the web (not just in domain names and website content but in the use of meta tags as well) because it is trademarked by a local telephone company, imagine how many websites and entities all over the world which also use the PLDT acronym would be affected.

In the meantime, Kaimo's site has been updated (the petition for a temporary restraining order on the website and the use of www.pldt.com was withdrawn by PLDT at the first hearing of the case held Oct. 5). The next hearing is scheduled Oct. 19 at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.

Apparently, PLDT is treading on unchartered territories in cyberspace with this lawsuit, one which could affect the entire Internet industry.

In other words, this is not a mere trademark dispute.