While the Kentucky Supreme Court takes its time to consider overturning last month’s decision of the state appeals court rejecting Governor Steve Beshear’s attempt to seize 141 domain names on the grounds that they were “gambling devices”, the state of New York wasted no time introducing legislation to avoid any similar disputes over the interpretation of their state’s anti-gambling measures. …

On January 27, 2009 the House Committee on the Judiciary adopted a wide-ranging plan for oversight to be conducted by it during the new, 111th Congress. As described below, they plan to delve into ICANN matters at the full Committee level, chaired by Representative John Conyers (D-MI). The Committee’s inquiry will be based upon its jurisdiction over intellectual property and …

The ICA is an international member of ICANN’s Business Constituency. On January 26, 2009 the BC adopted a position regarding ICANN’s draft application guidelines for new gTLDs by a vote of 46-8, with 11 abstentions; overall, 30 members of the BC, representing 63% of its total membership, voted on this matter. The ICA cast a No vote on the BC …

The Complainant, RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana S.p.A. of Italy, filed a complaint with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center in connection with the domain rai.mobi. The Complainant alleged that in registering the domain rai.mobi the Respondent, Netwizzy Company S.L of Spain, infringed on the Complainant’s trademarks which incorporate the letters “RAI” to which the Complainant is widely recognized. The Complainant stated …

On Wednesday, January 13, 2009 the Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus held its annual “State of the Net Conference”. This event, attended by hundreds, brings together members of Congress and their staff, regulatory agency personnel, lawyers and lobbyists, public interest groups and think tanks, and others interested in technology policy – and often serves as a jumping off …

The Kentucky Governor’s office wasted little time Wednesday, appealing Tuesday’s decision by the Court of Appeals that domain names are not gambling devices under the meaning of the state law cited as the justification for the state’s seizure of 141 domain names. By overturning the decision of the lower court, the Court of Appeals rejected the Governor’s attempts to extend …

As the year comes to a close I’m happy to announce the release of the Internet Commerce Association’s 2008 Annual Report. The ICA has been very active in the last year and this 11-page PDF report highlights the growth of our membership since our founding two years ago and provides a summary of ICA activities and outreach over the past …

It has been a long wait, but the court hearing the suit brought by CFIT against VeriSign accepted ICA’s amicus brief. Bret Faucet, representing CFIT in this case, thanked ICA for its contribution to the case. CFIT is trying to try to get the court to reverse the decision by ICANN to award the .com contract to VeriSign without any …

How they cause new risk for your .com portfolio ICA encourages domain name owners to comment on the new gTLD implementation guidebook before the December 15th deadline. The biggest issue alarming many domain owners is the possibility that price controls will be completely removed for .com and other existing gTLDs. This could enable VeriSign to implement variable pricing for .com …

Domain Directors, and its associated company, Instra Corporation, an auDA and ICANN accredited registrar, is continuing with its litigation against auDA. The Supreme Court of Queensland today set down this litigation for trial for 2 February 2009. In November, Domain Directors, an auDA and ICANN accredited registrar, commenced legal proceedings against auDA, the Australian domain name policy and regulatory body. …