The Arab Center for Dispute Resolution (ACDR) has been approved as a UDRP provider by ICANN’s Board of Directors. However, the language of the Board resolution of approval leaves unresolved the critically important issue of whether all UDRP providers will be placed under a standard and enforceable contractual agreement. The Board action took place during its meeting of May 18th, …
ICANN Response to ICA: URS Providers will become Contracted Parties
Responding to questions posed by ICA Counsel Philip Corwin at the Public Forum in Beijing, ICANN is now on the record that it is developing a standard contract for all providers of the new Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) rights protection mechanism (RPM) for new gTLDs, and that more URS providers will be selected. This action sets a strong precedent for …
NCSG Cites ICA in Request for ICANN Board Reconsideration of TMC Claims “Trademark + Fifty” Decision
On April 19, 2013 ICANN’s Non-Commercial Stakeholders Group (NCSG) filed a formal Request for Reconsideration with ICANN’s Board Governance Committee to review a unilateral staff decision to expand the scope of the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMC) claims service for new gTLDs. That decision would allow trademark owners to include up to 50 additional typographical variations of each accepted trademark in the …
ICA Opposes ICANN Proposal to Slash UDRP Response Time
ICA just told ICANN that we strongly oppose an Initial Report that proposes to effectively reduce the time that a registrant has to respond to a UDRP by up to one-third. The current UDRP requires a complainant to provide the registrant of the allegedly infringing domain with a copy of the complaint at the same time it is submitted to …
ICANN to GAC: Agreement in Principle Reached on New RAA
On the afternoon of Tuesday, April 9th, during ICANN’s 46th Public Meeting currently taking place in Beijing, China, ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade announced that, following 20 months of negotiations, “agreement in principle” had been reached on a new version of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) to be put into effect immediately for all new and incumbent registrars that wish to …
ICA Comments on ACDR’s Revised Application to Provide UDRP Services
Several weeks ago, ICA intervened with ICANN’s Board to request that the revised application of the Arab Center for Dispute Resolution (ACDR) be withdrawn from its Consent Agenda and put out for public comment. (see http://internetcommerce.org/ACDR_UDRP). The Board complied, which we appreciate, in light of the fact that the application had lain dormant for two and a half years. (see …
ICANN Amnesia – Expansion of Trademark Clearinghouse Data Contradicts Very Recent Statements
ICANN’s institutional memory seems to be slipping, and that concerns us. On March 20th, ICANN announced that trademark owners would not only be able to register their marks meeting certain validation criteria in the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMC) but also up to fifty variations of each mark that had been found to be the subject of abusive registrations in a UDRP …
ICANN Board Follows ICA Suggestion, Defers Action on ACDR’s UDRP Proposal
Domain registrants won’t be receiving UDRP notices from Amman, Jordan for at least a while. Last week ICA sent a letter to ICANN’s Board asking that it defer action on the pending proposal of the Arab Center for Dispute Resolution (ACDR) to be accredited as a UDRP arbitration provider and put its revised proposal out for public comment. On Thursday, …
IPC Weighs In Against ACDR’s UDRP Proposal
Yesterday we posted a February 26th letter that ICA sent to ICANN urgently requesting that the ICANN Board defer action at its February 28th meeting on the pending proposal of the Arab Center for Dispute Resolution (ACDR) to be accredited as a UDRP arbitration provider — and that ICANN published ACDR’s revised proposal for public comment before taking any final …
ICA Asks ICANN Board to Defer Action on New UDRP Provider
Back in September 2010 ICANN invited public comment on the proposal of the Arab Center for Dispute Resolution (ACDR) of Amman, Jordan to become a UDRP arbitration provider. Most of the comments opposed approval or requested changes and clarifications. Nothing more was heard of the application – until it showed up on the Consent Agenda for the ICANN Board meeting …