ICANN acknowledges need to address trademark concerns for new gTLDs

In the open ceremony of the ICANN meeting in Mexico City, ICANN Chairman, Peter Dengate-Thrush confirmed the Board has very clearly heard the concerns of the business community about some aspects of the new gTLD process, and completely understands and wants to respect the rights of trademark holders.

He re-iterated that the Board is committed to addressing the concerns before opening the application process. ICANN now does not expect to accept New gTLD applications until December 2009 at the earliest.

ICANN to seek new CEO in 2009

The current CEO of ICANN, Dr Paul Twomey, has announced that he will not renew his term of CEO after his contract concludes on 30 June 2009. Paul has served as the CEO of ICANN for nearly 7 years. Paul will stay on as “Senior President” through the end of the year to advise the new CEO, and assist ICANN in further developing the process for new gTLDs and Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), and managing the conclusion of the Joint Project Agreement (JPA) with the US Government.