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 position. There were two principal reasons for this:
• First, given that many BC members (including ICA) had filed their own extensive comments on the new gTLD proposal, and that the deadline for comments had closed on December 15, 2008, we did not think it was appropriate for the BC to be taking a position at such a late date.
• Second, while ICA recognizes the legitimate concerns of trademark holders regarding new gTLDs, the BC position goes beyond commenting on potential abuses at the first level to suggest changes at the second level that could undermine and supplant a UDRP that is already problematic for domain registrants. For example, it proposes creation of a broad brand name list that could expand brand rights within ICANN far beyond the bounds of trademark law, and also suggests creating a notice and takedown procedure for allegedly abusive registrations that is cost-free to the rights holder. The ICA believes that any new policies regarding dispute resolution at the second level must be addressed separately from the issue of new gTLDs through a process that accords adequate consideration to the concerns of domain registrants.
While much of the BC position paper is acceptable, and some portions are quite good (for example, it raises objections to that part of the new gTLD process that could undermine price caps on registration fees at .com and other incumbent gTLDs), the procedural deficiencies that led to a very late filing, and the suggested rights protection mechanisms that could adversely affect domain name registrants, required a No vote from the ICA. The ICA will continue to make the case against addressing second level domain name disputes within the new gTLD process as it moves forward with consideration of a revised version of the guidelines.
The BC position paper can be found by going to http://www.bizconst.org/ and clicking on the “Positions” tab under “Archive”.