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 potential harms. So this proposal is designed to “level the playing field” for incumbent gTLDs.
The process proposed by ICANN would give the incumbents a choice of accepting the entirety of the new gTLD registry contract, or negotiating changes in their existing contract with ICANN and then subjecting those proposed changes to public comment. ICA presumed that incumbent registry operators would choose the second route.
However, of the four comments filed on this issue, only the Registries Stakeholder Group proposed technical adjustments. The other three parties – Momentous, AusRegistry, and the International Trademark Association (INTA) – took an “all or nothing” position to the effect that any incumbent gTLD wishing to affiliate with a registrar must adopt the entirety of the registry contract for new gTLDs to prevent “cherry picking” of favorable terms. (Comments at http://forum.icann.org/lists/cross-ownership-existing-registries/ )
We have no idea whether VeriSign plans to seek to integrate with an ICANN-accredited registrar, or if a major registrar might propose to merge with or acquire VeriSign.
But if the “all or nothing” position were applied to .Com it would mean:
• The end of any pricing constraints
• The imposition of all the new gTLD “rights protections”, including Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS)
We anticipate that some business interests holding large portfolios of defensively registered or UDRP-acquired domains would resist the termination of price controls – but might simultaneously support imposition of new gTLD rights protections as a condition of integration.
ICANN’s Board is slated to consider this matter at its June 20th meeting at which the main topic will be whether to approve the overall new gTLD program. It’s likely that the conditions for incumbent gTLD integration will not be settled with finality at that meeting and that this issue will persist for quite some time.
ICA will vigorously articulate the interests of domain investors on this matter in order to protect the value and security of domain portfolios consisting primarily of incumbent gTLDs. These portfolios were acquired with the understanding that they would require compliance with the UDRP and not new and untested “rights protections”, and that incumbent gTLD domains are qualitatively different than those of any proposed new gTLD and therefore should be protected against unreasonable price increases.