In a historic June 20th vote of thirteen yays to two nays, with two abstentions, ICANN’s Board of Directors voted in Singapore to approve the opening of the domain name system (DNS) to unlimited applications for new generic top level domains (gTLDs). The application period for the initial round will open on January 12, 2012 and close three months later …
Working Weekend at ICANN Singapore
After a daylong air journey from Washington to Singapore we spent the weekend ensconced in the Raffles Convention Center observing the workings of ICANN’s Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) policymaking body and trading news and rumors in the air conditioned hallways that provide shelter from the sweltering heat outside. Upon arrival we learned of two new communications that will likely …
Removal of Price Increase Limitations and Imposition of URS at Incumbent gTLDs Would Affect 120 Million Domains – And Therefore Requires Public Comment
When ICANN’s Board meets in Singapore in two weeks to consider approving the launch of new gTLDs it will mark the third anniversary of its 2008 vote in Paris to initiate the new gTLD project. The seemingly interminable process that has ensued over the past 36 months has brought many disturbing new ideas to fruition – including new ‘rights protections’ …
Registry-Registrar Integration at Existing gTLDs Could End Price Controls and Impose URS on .Com and .Net
On June 1st an ICANN comment period ended in regard to the process for terminating registry/registrar separation at incumbent gTLDs like .Com and .Net (announcement at http://icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-02may11-en.htm ). ICANN’s Board has decided that any new gTLDs will not be subject to such a separation requirement and will rely on other restrictions as well as national competition authorities to curb any …
Anti-Parking Policy Stripped from Final gTLD Applicant Guidebook
Responding to a strongly worded ICA comment letter filed on May 15th, ICANN has deleted applicant evaluation criteria from the Final Applicant Guidebook (AG) for new gTLDs that would have encouraged applicants to constrain parked websites offering advertising links. ICANN has just issued what it hopes will be the Final version of the AG (available at http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/comments-7-en.htm). ICA’s May 15th …
ICANN Downgrades Outlook for New gTLD Approval in Singapore to “Possible”
Last Friday, May 20, the ICANN Board and the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), held a joint teleconference to discuss remaining differences on the proposed final Applicant Guidebook AG) for the new gTLD program. Two days later they issued a Joint Statement regarding what transpired and how the process will go forward. The Joint Statement consists of the sort of vague …
ICA Demands Deletion of Anti-Parking Policy in New gTLD Applicant Guidebook
ICA has just submitted its sixth comment letter to ICANN in regard to the ever-evolving Applicant Guidebook (AG) for the new gTLD program. The latest version of the AG contains a new provision, tucked away in the evaluation questions for new gTLD applicants, that asks whether they will adopt policies to eliminate or minimize “social costs” and “negative consequences”, and …
ICA Tells ICANN – No URS at .Net, and Account for Use of $6.8 Million Excess Annual Transaction Fee
The Internet Commerce Association has filed its comment letter with ICANN regarding the revised contract under which VeriSign will operate the .Net registry from July 1, 2011 going forward. A major focus of the comment letter was strenuous objection to the proposal, put forward by ICANN’s Intellectual Property Constituency, that the untested Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) system that has been …
DOC Says GAC Should Be Satisfied Before New gTLDs Launch
“I don’t see how new gTLDs can be approved in Singapore if the GAC isn’t satisfied that its concerns have been fully addressed”. So spoke Assistant Secretary for Commerce Lawrence Stickling in his keynote luncheon speech delivered at a Global Internet Governance workshop held at American University in Washington, DC on May 5th. (The quote is transcribed from our hastily …
Congress Advises ICANN to Follow its Example – and Kick the New gTLD Program Launch Further on Down the Road
The ongoing debate about the burgeoning U.S. federal deficit has been short on bipartisan agreement – except for the proposition that “we can no longer kick the can down the road”. Yet that is pretty much what senior members of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet asked ICANN to do with its new gTLD …