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On Thursday February 26, Bruce Tonkin, CTO of Melbourne IT and Mike Rodenbaugh of Rodenbaugh Law and former Yahoo! IP attorney, presented a webinar on the changes to the New gTLD process.
As Bruce Tonkin explained, several of the key changes to the current draft gTLD proposal are:
- Application dates being pushed out to late 2009
- ICANN will publish all applications after their initial review
- There will be both an objection and public comment period regarding the applications
- A refund schedule for withdrawal of applications at various stages
- Reduction in ongoing annual registration fees from $75,000 US to $25,000 US
Below are links that will enable you to download a PDF of the presentation, or view and listen to a recording of the web session.
Listen to a recording of the presentation.
Additional web sessions will be scheduled to go over news coming out of the March ICANN meeting being held in Mexico City. Please check back for dates and times.
The main changes in the applicant guidebook include:
- Tighter compliance requirements for Registry Operators, including rights for ICANN to audit some operations.
- Some lifting on restrictions on registry-registrar cross-ownership.
- The annual registry fee of $75,000 has been adjusted down to a minimum of US$25,000, and a US$0.25 transaction fee for registrations within more than 50,000 names.
- Refunds to the application fee if an applicant drops out at different stages in the process.
- Tighter definitions around geographic names.
- Auctions as a mechanisms of last resort to resolve contention between two parties wanting the same name – with any resulting funds being returned to the community via a separate foundation.
- Noted that it is unlikely that the application round will open before December 2009.
In addition ICANN has also identified issues that need more discussion before the Applicant Guidebook can be finalized. These include:
- More work needed on protection of existing domain name registrants and end-user confusion.
- A technical analysis of the combined impact of the introduction of IPv6 records, DNSSEC, IDN-ccTLDs and new gTLDs (including IDNs) on the root zone.
- An analysis of specific types of malicious behaviour that may occur with new gTLDs.
- Enhanced protection for trademark holders.
- Economic study on the impacts of new gTLDs.
ICANN is now seeking feedback – both on the recent changes, as well as the major issues identified for further work.
In anticipation of a revised gTLD proposal being available prior to the Mexico ICANN meeting, Melbourne IT has scheduled two webinar sessions on Thursday, February 26 to review the changes and new information. Dr. Bruce Tonkin, Melbourne IT CTO and ICANN Board Member, and Mike Rodenbaugh an expert in IP law, will be highlighting and commenting on the changes and updates to the revised draft proposal document. At the conclusion of the webinar, they will take questions from the listening audience.
Webinar for Europe:
Date: Thursday, February 26, 2009
Time: 3:00 PM CET (Central European Time) – 9:00 AM EST (US Eastern Time)
Click Here to Register
Webinar for the US:
Date: Thursday, February 26, 2009
Time: 12:00 Noon EST (US Eastern Time)
Click Here to Register
In a little over two weeks, ICANN’s 34th international public meeting will take place in Mexico City. Discussion on gTLDs will be a major topic.
ICANN has set up an online question box to allow those who are not able to physically attend, to ask a question directly of ICANN staff and/or the ICANN Board. The question box is online now at: http://icann.wufoo.com/forms/mexico-city-question-box/
The expectation is that as many questions as possible will be answered during the sessions with the responses captured in the meeting transcript.
Number four on ICANN’s list of top priorities in the organization’s three year strategic plan is improving the confidence in the gTLD marketplace by making sure registries and registrars operate in accordance with their contracts and ICANN policies. Captured in this initiative is the goal to “introduce methods for protecting registrant from abuse of their registrations and preventing the registration of fraudulent sites.” By assuring adequate protection measures in the New gTLD process, and taking action to improve some existing problem areas, ICANN should be able to score a few confidence points.
Implementation of New gTLDs is listed as the #1 priority for ICANN according to the three year strategy document just posted by the organization. The principal objective for this priority is to have new gTLDs (including IDNs) and IDN ccTLDs functioning in the root, with the processes to support them embedded in standard operations. The published goal still has the first round of applications launching by mid 2009.
No specific time frame is given for subsequent rounds except that the timeline for the review of the first round application process and procedures, including management of the objection process, is shown extending into late 2011 to provide routine and predictable processes that are acceptable to the Internet community.
This seems to indicate ICANN is serious about getting the procedure right, including safeguards for existing trademark holders. It does bring up a number of other issues, such as how many new gTLDs will be accepted in the first round, and what will be the selection criteria? This could create a competitive issue for brand holders interested in a gTLD given first movers often gain an advantage. On the other hand, the timeline indicates there could be a significant gap between the investment made to register a gTLD and the actual launch date.
These are some of the issues Melbourne IT will be monitoring and providing comment on, and will be able to assist companies with when undertaking the decision making process for determining if, and possibly when, a gTLD should be considered as part of the corporate strategy.
ICANN has posted the meeting agenda for the Mexico City meeting to be held 1 -6 March As anticipated there is a significant amount of time dedicated to the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook. There will be a forum that includes a 90-minute Q&A session and a 30 minute feedback session on Monday and a two and a half hour open microphone session on Thursday. All of these sessions should prove to be very engaging. Melbourne IT will have representatives in attendance to reinforce the views of clients that have already been provided during the public comment period.
Other relevant sessions of the meeting:
The CEO and senior staff of ICANN have released a video update on the applicant guidebook. In it Paul Twomey, CEO of ICANN commented on the responses received and gave insight into some of modifications that can be expected. Following is a summary of the video update.
Mr. Twomey stated there is clear demand from a large number of people for new gTLDs, but there have also been numerous responses from industry associations and businesses concerned with the potential impact of new gTLDs.
Issues raised include the need for additional brand protection measures, with a number of respondents expressing feeling compelled to register their brands at the second level of new gTLDs. Several comments cited the concern of added complexity in combating malicious use of the Internet via methods such as phishing, and malware.
On the technical side there were a few mentions of stability concerns from the combined impact of changes to the root zone, including adding new gTLDs and the addition of International Domain Name (IDN) versions of both new gTLDs and ccTLDs, DNSSEC (DNS Security), and IPv6 records.
Mr. Twomey reported there is an opportunity to review the contractual frameworks for registries and registrars to address some of the concerns that exist within current gTLDs in order to combat issues such as phishing and malware. He stressed that this needs to be in the context of applicable national laws.
In the initial announcement last year, innovation was mentioned as key reason for the initiative. In his video address, Mr. Twomey reiterated that stance saying that innovation often occurs when new opportunities become available through changes in a market conditions, and that not all innovation is directly driven by user demand.
Kurt Pritz, senior vice president services, reported that a summary of comments will be posted, and a new version of the application guidebook will be published in time for the ICANN meeting in Mexico City starting 1 March 2009. The next version will include changes to the evaluation criteria, more detailed procedures, changes in fees paid by registry operators and more protection for marks holders. ICANN will also identify areas requiring further study and consultation.
Mr. Twomey also said it’s likely another draft of the application guidebook would be published for further comment following the meeting in Mexico.
Melbourne IT will provide a summary of the changes in the new draft when they are released, and will again seek feedback from clients to present to ICANN.
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