ICA Counsel Philip Corwin recently traveled to San Francisco to present ICA’s views to the Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT) created by the ICANN Board to propose “solutions” addressing the concerns of trademark owners about new gTLDs. The IRT letter of invitation noted ICA’s filing of a request for investigation by ICANN’s ombudsman, alleging that the IRT is an ICANN “constituent …
Independence or Continued Partnership? — Department of Commerce Solicits Comments on ICANN’s Future
On Friday, April 24th the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration posted a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) requesting comment on the upcoming September 30, 2009 expiration of the current Joint Project Agreement (JPA) with ICANN. The NOI can be found at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-9409.htm as well as http://www.ntia.doc.gov/frnotices/2009/FR_ICANNVol.74_No78_Apr242009.pdf. The comment period closes on June 8th. This NOI seems destined to …
ICA to ICANN: The IRT Must Open Up Or Be Stripped of Official Status and Support
The ICA has just submitted a formal request to Mr. Frank Fowlie, ICANN Ombudsman, requesting an immediate investigation of the non-compliance of the Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT) with applicable provisions of ICANN’s Bylaws. The IRT was created by a March Resolution adopted by the ICANN Board during its Mexico City meeting, and was charged with proposing “solutions” to the concerns …
ICA Tells Kentucky Supreme Court to Uphold Ruling in Domain Name Seizure Case
The Internet Commerce Association today joined in a Friend-of-the-Court brief filed with the Kentucky Supreme Court urging it to uphold the decision of the Court of Appeals that domain names are not “gambling devices” subject to seizure under Kentucky law. Other organizations signing this brief were the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American …
ICA Tells ICANN: Version Two of New gTLD Guidebook No Improvement Over Its Predecessor
The comment period on Version two of ICANN’s Draft Applicant Guidebooks for new gTLDs closed on April 13th, and the ICA submitted the comment letter below to apprise ICANN of our views on this critically important proposal for DNS expansion. Trouble is, Version Two contained no substantive changes in regard to the key issues for ICA members – differential pricing, …
The “Monster Test” for the IRT
We read and hear a lot of complaints from trademark interests about allegedly rampant cybersquatting and other forms of trademark infringement, but it’s rare to see a story about reverse domain name hijacking and other abuses committed by them. That’s what made it so refreshing to see an article in the Saturday, April 4th Wall Street Journal titled “The Scariest …
The Obama Administration Assembles its Team at NTIA
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s (DOC) National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) oversees the current Joint Project Agreement (JPA) with ICANN and will be responsible for recommending whether that arrangement should be terminated or extended when the current JPA expires in September. On March 26th President Obama nominated Lawrence Strickling to be Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information at DOC. …
ICA Tells ICANN To Implement RAA Amendments and Move Foreward on Registrants’ Rights
Just over two years ago the domain world was abuzz when the scandal-tinged collapse of RegisterFly revealed serious inadequacies in the standard Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) and in ICANN’s enforcement of that key contractual document. The outcry over that incident set in motion a process for the development of substantial strengthening amendments to the RAA. While the final product took …
ICA Tells ICANN That Using the DNS For Content Zoning Is Unsafe
On April 5th ICA filed a comment letter with ICANN in regard to a proposal to establish a CyberSafety Constituency. While sharing concerns about pornography and other offensive and inappropriate content that children may be exposed when they access the Internet, we urged ICANN to reject the proposal. We believe that ICANN needs to do a better job of performing …
UDRP Decision Causes Concern Over Fbomb.com
As reported on Domain Name Wire here, a recent decision by an arbitrator for the National Arbitration Forum provides another example of a UDRP decision that stretches both the intent of the UDRP and the limitations of trademark law. The panelist ordered the transfer of a seemingly generic domain citing that subsequent registration of a domain name, previously used by …