The following consist of a prepared statement delivered by ICA Counsel Philip Corwin at the ICANN Public Forum in Durban today, plus the raw transcript of the subsequent interchange —   Good afternoon. Philip Corwin, Counsel to the Internet Commerce Association. Several weeks ago CEO Chehade stated that domain registrants were ICANN’s primary customer. We welcomed that recognition. Yet while …

    To our shock and dismay, ICANN staff today stated in Durban that it is not developing a standard and enforceable contract for Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) arbitration dispute providers, going back on its written statement of May that it was doing precisely that.

           Members of the ICANN community assembled in Durban, South Africa were greatly surprised by announcement on the meeting’s first day that no less than five new strategy panels were being formed to “serve as an integral part of a framework for cross-community dialogue on strategic matters”. According to the official announcement[1]: “The ICANN Strategy Panels will convene subject matter …

Durban is a lovely beach city on the Indian Ocean with idyllic winter weather, but you might as well be on Mars if you’re ensconced in the vast windowless meeting rooms of its International Conference Center. That’s where ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) spent a good part of Saturday, July 13th, engaged in a dialogue with the non-conflicted members of …

We got pretty excited recently when ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade said that registrants were ICANN’s primary customer[1] – but we must now curb our enthusiasm in light of the final treatment of registrants’ rights in the newly approved Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA). The draft RAA contained a statement of Registrants’ Rights and Responsibilities (RRR) that all accredited registrars must provide …

ICANN’s Board approved the new Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) on June 27th, and its Resolution doing so noted that “the Board has accepted the GAC Advice in the Beijing Communiqué that the “the 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement should be finalized before any new gTLD contracts are approved.”” — and cited as a “highlight” that “The 12 Law Enforcement Recommendations that …

ICANN held a briefing in Brussels on Tuesday, June 25th and ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade was the leadoff speaker. We’ve reviewed some detailed reports from those in attendance, and the most startling and refreshing statement made by CEO Chehade was that new gTLD applicants will be managed as ICANN’s licensees – that he regards the registrant/user as ICANN’s “customer” and …

The White House has just released the “2013 JOINT STRATEGIC PLAN ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ENFORCEMENT” issued by the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC), and ICANN efforts are discussed at some length. The Report makes clear that U.S. activities within ICANN are regarded as an integral part of the government’s overall strategic efforts against IP infringement. (http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/IPEC/2013-us-ipec-joint-strategic-plan.pdf). The Introduction to …

ICA has been informed by ICANN Staff that the Working Group (WG) on the Locking of a Domain Name Subject to UDRP Proceedings appears to have settled on a recommendation that domain name registrants who are Respondents in a UDRP proceeding be granted an automatic right to request and be granted a four day extension of the deadline for filing …

The Internet Commerce Association (ICA) has endorsed and suggested additional improvements to the alternate statement of Registrants’ Rights and Responsibilities (RRR) proposed by ICANN’s Non-Commercial Stakeholders Group (NCSG). ICA’s comment was filed in regard to the “Proposed Final 2013 RAA” (Registrar Accreditation Agreement); the RRR is one component of the RAA and all ICANN-accredited registrars will be required to link …