Last week ICANN announced that the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) of Minneapolis, MN had been appointed to administer the new Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) rights protection mechanism for new gTLDs. (http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/announcement-2-20feb13-en) The announcement raises more questions than it answers.   Despite the press announcement’s claim that NAF “has a proven track record boasting resolution of over 19,000 claims in …

ICA just filed a comment letter responding to a draft ICANN framework for determining what is policy and what is just implementation of existing policy. We’ll be the first to admit that the subject is dry, vague, and of general interest only to Internet policy wonks – but the answers are critically important to assuring that domain investors and registrants …

Domain Sherpa, a well-known website that features video interviews with domain investment industry leaders, has now made available an interview with ICA Counsel Philip Corwin. Titled “ICA: The Domain Name Trade Association That Represents Your Financial Interests – With Philip Corwin”, the interview can be accessed at http://www.domainsherpa.com/phil-corwin-ica-interview/ . The interview was conducted in December 2012 – coincidentally, it took …

Commentary on ICANN’s proposed “Strawman Solution” for the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) is reaching impressive heights. With just a few hours remaining before the filing deadline eighty-three separate comments have been submitted on the proposal, and we imagine that a few more will trickle in before the inbox is closed. It would be an interesting exercise to calculate how many collective …

The International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) concluded its Dubai meeting in some disarray last week, with 89 nations (with a collective population of 2.6 billion) signing the revised International Telecommunications Regulations (ITR) and 54 (with a collective population of 3.8 billion) abstaining and thereby effectively saying ‘No’. Ironically, the host nations of the next two …

While ICANN provides excellent remote participation technologies for its thrice-yearly public meetings, it’s been our experience that there is no real substitute for attending in person if you want to get the full picture of activities and have a meaningful impact. A tremendous amount of information is gained from hallway and other informal conversations, and it also allows for one-on-one …

VeriSign and the Department of Commerce (DOC) announced this morning that the Agreement allowing VeriSign to remain in place as the .Com registry operator had been approved with one major alteration — .Com wholesale prices will be frozen at $7.85 for the six-year length of the Agreement absent extraordinary circumstances. The version of the Agreement approved by ICANN’s Board in …

In the past two years VeriSign has bestowed “special dividends” on its shareholders totaling nearly $1 billion, still has a cash pile exceeding $1.4 billion, and has so little need for all that cash that it is planning to spend more than half of it on stock buybacks. Meanwhile, under the .Com registry operations renewal Agreement already okayed by ICANN, …

Straw man >n. a person compared to a straw image; a sham. ·         a sham argument set up to be defeated. — The New Oxford American Dictionary   Last Thursday and Friday, November 15th & 16th, representatives from the various constituencies comprising ICANN’s Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) met at ICANN headquarters in Los Angles to discuss various aspects of …

Lives were tragically lost in Hurricane Sandy, with many additional victims sustaining acute physical injuries. Power remains out in many storm-affected areas as temperatures skew colder. Thousands of homes have been destroyed or badly damaged, and businesses have been shuttered and laid off workers, as public officials scramble to find adequate alternative shelter for the homeless and coordinate relief efforts. …