On March 27th ICANN published a proposed revision of the .Com registry agreement to govern VeriSign’s continued management of the most populous gTLD registry from December 1, 2012 through November 30, 2018. The announcement filled us with a sense of déjà vu tinged with nostalgia, as the ICA was established in reaction to the controversy that ensued when the 2006 …
ICA Tells ICANN that URS Needs Careful Implementation, Not Conversion to a Cut-Rate UDRP – And Don’t Even Think About Imposing URS on .Com via Contract Negotiations
Last month, in response to continuing concerns and some outright confusion about whether brand owners would be compelled to pony up $185k application fees for defensive gTLD registrations, ICANN opened up a comment period for the purpose of clarifying the matter. While the invitation to comment made clear that input was only being solicited in regard to top level registrations, …
ICA on the Record for a Credible and Balanced URS at ICANN Costa Rica
During the Public Forum held on Thursday, March 15th by ICANN’s Board of Directors at its just-concluded meeting in San Jose, Costa Rica, ICA Counsel Philip Corwin addressed the Board during the portion of the Forum devoted to an exchange of views on “Implementation issues around new gTLD rollout”. Corwin raised questions regarding the implementation status of Uniform Rapid Suspension …
Heightened Registrar Contract Compliance Could Be Accompanied by Higher Domain Pricing
Late on Tuesday, March 13th in San Jose, Costa Rica ICANN’s Board and its Governmental Advisory Council (GAC) met in open session to discuss a wide range of issues. The meeting began with the New Zealand delegate expressing the view that ICANN’s biggest failure was in enforcing its own contracts with registries and registrars. While we agree that ICANN needs …
NTIA: ICANN Not Qualified to Be Awarded IANA Contract – And Therefore Shall Keep Running IANA for the Present
The ever-sunny skies over San Jose, Costa Rica were darkened by a dark cloud from Washington on the morning of March 10th, the opening day of activities at ICANN’s 43rd Public Meeting. The pall was cast by a notice posted by the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) stating that it had canceled the Request for Proposal …
New Survey Says Government Regulation is Top Concern of Domain Investors
Our friend and noted domain industry journalist Andrew Allemann has just released the 2012 Domain Name Wire survey of domain investor concerns (http://domainnamewire.com/2012/02/28/government-regulation-domains/).That statistical portrait, based upon 1,143 respondents, lists Government regulation as the top (21%) concern for the domain investment community. The full list is – 1. Government regulation 21%2. Overall economy 15%3. New TLDs 15%4. ICANN policy decisions …
ICANN Should Investigate NAF’s UDRP Practices
On February 23rd the ICA sent a letter to ICANN requesting that it initiate an immediate investigation of the UDRP arbitration practices of the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based National Arbitration Forum (NAF). NAF is the number two provider of UDRP arbitration services, led only by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) – in 2010, WIPO handled 2,696 UDRP filings while NAF’s total …
ICANN Names WIPO as Exclusive Arbitrator of Legal Rights Objections to New gTLDs – But When Will ICANN Begin Work on Implementation Details of the URS?
ICANN has designated the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as the exclusive provider of arbitration services to resolve disputes when a Legal Rights Objection (LRO) is lodged against a proposed new gTLD. An LRO can be lodged by a trademark owner or intergovernmental organization when an applied-for gTLD would be likely to infringe the objector’s existing trademark, or IGO …
Video of ICA DOMAINfest 2012 Presentation Now Available
A video of the ICA presentation on “Public Policies Impacting Domain Investors” delivered on February 1, 2012 at the DOMAINfest 2012 conference held in Santa Monica, California is now available online at http://domainfest.com/mediaarchive/V9 . In addition, the PowerPoint presentation utilized during the presentation is available at http://www.domainfest.com/files/DOMAINfest_Global_2012_Phil_Corwin_Regulatory_Issues.pdf . The presentation was made by ICA Counsel Phil Corwin. He was accompanied …
White House Indicates It Cannot Support Current Versions of PIPA and SOPA
ICA has strongly opposed the current versions of the PIPA and SOPA anti-piracy bills because of the grave threat they pose to all domain name industry intermediary companies of being alleged to be trafficking in domains constituting “counterfeit marks” under the bill’s overbroad and vague definitions, and to being deprived of essential payment and advertising services as a result. The …