DigitalBrandNews

ICANN previously announced plans to publish the second draft gTLD Request for Proposal in late February prior to their meeting in Mexico City.  In anticipation of the revised document becoming available, Melbourne IT is planning to host a web seminar on Thursday February 26, to outline the revisions within the proposal document. Mark your calendar and plan on joining us for this informative session.  Exact times and registration details will be posted as soon as details are available on the release of the revised RFP.

ICANN has received over 300 comments on the draft RFP from individuals and organizations representing intellectual property interests, brand owners, business owners, ICANN supporting organizations, domain name industry players, and government representatives.

The key concerns raised were:

• Brand protection issues and the impact on brands and trademark owners.
• Financial considerations, including evaluation fees, ongoing registry fees, and refund procedures.
• Various issues surrounding the proposed registry agreement, particularly price controls, registry/registrar separation, the management of future agreement amendments, equitable treatment, and others.
• General comments and concerns related to expanding the top level and its impact on the global marketplace, specific industries and Domain Name System stability.

ICANN will release a comprehensive analysis of the comments in early February 2009. ICANN also announced that it will be holding conferences in different global locations, and will be amending the draft RFP based on the feedback it has received. No date has been given for when the next release of the RFP will be available.

On December 3, the United States Department of Commerce (Doc) provided comments to ICANN after a review of the RFP by the US Department of Justice. In the comments, Assistant Secretary Meredith Baker stressed that ICANN address a number of concerns prior to moving forward with any new gTLDs. Ms. Baker’s letter also included the Dept of Justice memorandum that enumerated many of the concerns that have been expressed by the business community regarding the process, and associated cost.

Given that ICANN will need to address a number of points to have the support of the US DoC it is likely the current proposed timelines for rolling out the process will be modified. Look for more information on this as it becomes available.

Click Here to view the Department of Commerce letter.