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 CEO Rod Beckstrom penned his thoughts on being selected to lead the organization and his vision to support globally unified Internet.
Specifically relating to the new gTLD initiative are the following comments:
The Internet has historically thrived whenever the system is opened up further to allow users to express their creativity and innovation. We are now working on opening up the top-level domains so that not only nations but also other peoples and groups can have a unique identity on the Internet.
For example, the chief of the Zulu tribe, His Majesty King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu, recently sent a letter notifying us of his intent to register the dot-zulu domain name so that different but related businesses and other groups can be linked by their domain name to the entire Zulu community. According to His Majesty, “We believe that the .Zulu TLD, as conceived and proposed by the Dot Zulu Project Inc. represents the best interests of the Zulu community and will be able to provide a viable structure for us as an evolving community.” New York City and the city of Berlin have expressed a similar interest in their own domain names. It is impossible to imagine the possibilities that could occur when these and a multitude of other TLDs are opened.
The ICANN responsibility to support methods for securely introducing new TLDs was specified in the original White Paper that led to our formation. And our original 1998 memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Government stated one of our key responsibilities this way: “Oversight of the policy for determining the circumstances under which new top level domains would be added to the root system.” It went on to say, “The Parties will jointly design, develop, and test the mechanisms, methods, and procedures that will achieve the transition without disrupting the functional operation of the Internet.” According to Chairman of the Board Peter Dengate Thrush, “We are declaring success on these points. It’s been 11 years. We have developed and tested those mechanisms, and we find that they work.”
At the recent ICANN meeting in Sydney the Intellectual Property Constituency’s Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT) presented details of their recommendations. As expected, the recommendations were the subject of extensive and spirited discussion throughout the week-long meeting.
Members of the non-commercial user’s constituency were the most outspoken against the recommendations in general, calling for more detailed information and more precise descriptions of the types of abuse being targeted in the recommendations. On the other hand, The Government Advisory Committee (GAC) reported that it’s members benefited from the IRT briefings and the GAC believes that these are important issues that deserve focused attention to be resolved prior to the posting of the third version of the Draft Applicant Guidebook. Details of the presentations as well as a full transcript of the session are available by clicking here.
Summaries of Topic Discussions
The IP clearing house and IP claims concepts received strong support overall. As expected, there were many questions focused around who would create, operate and manage the clearing house and where the funding will come from. There were also discussions around other potential uses of the comprehensive database, and developing controls to ensure that the data wouldn’t be used for other than the intended purposes.
The proposed Globally Protected Marks List for protection of highly recognized names didn’t receive substantial support. The perception was such a list only benefits large businesses and offered no real benefit to the rest. Further, any minimum criteria likely would generate complaints from those who just miss making the list regardless.
The Universal Rapid Suspension System drew substantial criticism. More than a few saw the proposal as a replacement for the existing UDRP process. Several questioned the timing and mechanisms for notifying registrants of a dispute prior to a domain name being suspended. A number of opponents suggested considering URS elements as part of an overall review of the UDRP process. Ultimately there appeared to be a general willingness of agreement to improve the current dispute processes to assure mis-use by either respondents or complainants is avoided. The discussions between those for and against the URS made it clear that more detailed examples and cases of how the current system is being abused would help explain the reasoning for particular suggested changes.
ICANN is running further public forums to facilitate on-going discussions with the Internet community regarding workable solutions to some of the outstanding, overarching issues, particularly trademark protection and malicious behaviour. The forums will be in New York on July 13, London on July 15, Hong Kong 24 July, and Abu-Dhabi (tbd).
In advance of the organization’s June 24 meeting in Sydney AU, ICANN has published an analysis of the public comments to Version 2 of the Applicant Guidebook. The 214 page document lists a summary of comments by topic and ICANN’s analysis of the topic and proposed position. Click here to go directly to the document.
A number of key issues within the current applicant guidebook are yet to be resolved, but many proposed changes have been made and are now available for review and comment. The public review and comment period to the Revised Excerpts and Additional Explanatory Material on the changes opened on 31 May 2009 and extends through 20 July 2009.
Publication of the third, revised draft of the guidebook is pending resolution of overarching issues which has to happen before the first round of applications can begin. A key outstanding issue is protecting consumers and preventing abuse. A proposed measure that has ICANN support is the publication of a centralized, thick WHOIS database. This is seen almost universally as a way to lessen the burden on brand holders, law enforcement and others by helping to quickly and efficiently curb abuse in new gTLDs. In addition to recommending the thick WHOIS implementation, ICANN acknowledged the need for the development of an efficient mitigation processes at the registrar level and additional fine-tuning of proposed dispute resolution processes.
ICANN outlined plans to conduct consultative meetings on the numerous trademark issues beginning in Sydney in June, and continuing through July in other geographic regions on the effectiveness of proposals in addressing the overarching issues submitted by the IRT and others. The goal of the meetings is to resolve the outstanding issues in order to publish the final Applicant Guidebook in December 2009, allowing the first round of gTLD applications in the first quarter of 2010 as previously proposed. However, ICANN clearly stated there are no plans to launch the process absent resolution of the key outstanding issues.
ICANN’s Sydney meeting will be held 21-26 June 2009.
Click here to access the public comment analysis and the amended guidebook.
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/
The Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT) sanctioned by ICANN has provided the first draft of their trademark protection proposal.
The report describes in detail several proposed solutions to improve trademark protection in the new gTLD process. The two main elements are:
Other consideration in the proposal include:
Melbourne IT will be conducting a webinar on Tuesday 5 May to provide details of the report’s recommendations and receive feedback from customers. Melbourne IT has been invited to provide input to the IRT team at its meeting on Monday, 11 May 2009, and information from the webinar will be the basis for our report to the IRT team.
The full report by the IRT can be vied by clicking here.
ICANN has announced the members of the Implementation Recommendation Team to work on the issues raised by trademark rights holders and the community at large regarding brand protection measures.
See: http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/irt-list-23mar09-en.pdf for the complete list of members of the committee.
Results of IRT work will be part of follow-on ICANN consultations regarding the overarching issues (see http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-3-18feb09-en.htm) identified in the new gTLD implementation work. Finally, any modifications to the implementation, embodied in the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook and registry agreements will be open to at least one more round of public comment and feedback.
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