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ICANN and the UPU have reached agreement paving the way for the creation of .post. The gTLD was initially proposed in the 2004 application round. This agreement marks the first sponsorship of a TLD by an inter-governmental organization and will likely serve as the model for similar organizations in the future.
About the UPU
The UPU was created in 1874 and is now a specialized agency of the United Nations.
ICANN has published the Affirmation of Commitments by the United States Department of Commerce and ICANN.
The agreement affirms by both ICANN and the US Government the fact that ICANN has become a truly globally directed organization, and The US Government’s endorsement of the rapid introduction of internationalized country code top level domain names (ccTLDs).
As expanding the top-level domain space is contemplated, ICANN committed to ensuring the various issues involved (including competition, consumer protection, security, stability and resiliency, malicious abuse issues, sovereignty concerns, and rights protection) will be adequately addressed prior to implementation.
If and when new gTLDs (whether in ASCII or other language character sets) have been in operation for one year, ICANN will organize a review to examine the extent to which the introduction or expansion of gTLDs has promoted competition, consumer trust and consumer choice, as well as effectiveness of (a) the application and evaluation process, and (b) safeguards put in place to mitigate issues involved in the introduction or expansion.
In a recorded address, ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom stated “So the Affirmation is our commitment to be global and to report to the global community and then, technologically, we’re opening up other pieces of the internet, too.”
In a 15 September letter, the Members of the US House Committee on the Judiciary called upon ICANN to respond to a number of questions.
The committee specifically requested to know which of the IRT recommendations will be adopted and if ICANN will conduct an empirical study to examine the impact on competition additional gTLDs will provide. Most notably the committee asked if ICANN recognizes a need for some form of permanent agreement with the US Government to replace the Joint Project Agreement which expires on 30 Sept 2009.
You can view the PDF of the Letter here
Twitter recently selected Melbourne IT to manage its domain name portfolio. “We are very pleased to be working with Twitter, as a rapidly growing company that has vastly extended the reach of social networking,” said Theo Hnarakis, CEO and Managing Director of Melbourne IT. “Companies with a significant Internet presence recognise the value Melbourne IT Digital Brand Services delivers, as a leading provider of digital brand management and protection services.”
Today’s numerous country code top level domain names and all the possible name variations for a company’s products, services, trademarks, and brands make managing a domain portfolio incredibly complex. The coming introduction of new gTLDs will add a whole new dimension, making it essential to work with a partner having the experience to help develop a cost effective, top-down approach to plan and manage a complete domain strategy. It’s the experience in the domain name space that is making Melbourne IT the top choice for companies like Twitter that fully leverage the Internet.
ICANN is moving ahead with the implementation of the new gTLD program and is putting a great deal of emphasis on addressing concerns that have been voiced since the original announcement.
The public comment period just closed on the 2nd version of the applicant guidebook, and ICANN announced plans to publish a summary of the comments prior to their meeting in Sydney Australia in June. These comments and the recent proposed solutions to trademark protection issues by the Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT) will be significant discussion topics of the meeting. While there are a number of details to be addressed, the IRT’s initial framework is a significant improvement to the process for granting rights protection and reducing the opportunity for intentional misrepresentation of trademarks.
After the Sydney meeting, ICANN is planning regional events (dates yet to be announced) in Europe, the Americas and Asia to get further input and refine and finalize the IRT recommendations. The plan appears to be to address the issues, and have a completely revised third version of the Applicant Guidebook published by early September. This would allow time for comments before the ICANN meeting in Seoul in October, and then issue a final draft of the guidebook in order to begin the initial round of applications in the first quarter of 2010.
Melbourne IT DBS held a webinar on the draft proposal from the IRT. To hear a recording of this session click here.
The ICANN Sydney Australia meeting will be held 21 – 26 June 2009. For details about the meeting go to: http://syd.icann.org/
In last weeks webinar, Melbourne IT outlined solutions the company planned to propose around trademark protection at the time of registration and take down processes for malicious use of domain names.
These solutions were shared with brand holders in Mexico City. Other groups also joined in the discussion of possible solutions. Overall there was a willingness among the intellectual property, business users, registry, and registrar groups to work together to come up with implementable solutions.
As a result, the ICANN Board requested that ICANN’s intellectual property constituency convene an Implementation Recommendation Team to work to develop and propose solutions to the overarching issue of trademark protection in connection with the introduction of new gTLDs. ICANN has allocated staff and travel funding for this group.
Melbourne IT will continue to work with this community to refine solutions further. The team has a deadline of 24 April 2009 to produce a draft report, and 24 May 2009 to produce a final report detailing potential workable solutions.
ICANN has responded to the US Department of Commerce letter calling for the completion of economic studies to support the need for New gTLDS.
On March 4, 2009 ICANN posted two reports by Dennis Carlton, a Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago in support of the economic benefits of New gTLD stated by ICANN. Professor Carlton was the highest-ranking economist in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from 2006 to 2008, and currently is a Senior Managing Director of Compass Lexecon, a prestigious economic consulting firm specializing in competition matters.
To further address the comments from the DoC, ICANN has made the documents available for reading and comment. A public comment forum has been opened on these preliminary reports prepared by Professor Carlton for 45 days, until 17 April 2009. The complete Preliminary Reports and Public Comment Forum can be found by clicking here.
March 2, 2009
Kurt Pritz reported today that the final applicant guidebook is expected to be published around October 2009. Following publication of the guidelines, the first application submissions will be accepted in December 2009.
ICANN will initiate a significant communication program around the new proposal process two months before the release of the final guidebook.
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.
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.
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