The ever-sunny skies over San Jose, Costa Rica were darkened by a dark cloud from Washington on the morning of March 10th, the opening day of activities at ICANN’s 43rd Public Meeting. The pall was cast by a notice posted by the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) stating that it had canceled t...

Our friend and noted domain industry journalist Andrew Allemann has just released the 2012 Domain Name Wire survey of domain investor concerns (http://domainnamewire.com/2012/02/28/government-regulation-domains/). That statistical portrait, based upon 1,143 respondents, lists Government regulation as the top (21%) concern for the domain investm read...

On February 23rd the ICA sent a letter to ICANN requesting that it initiate an immediate investigation of the UDRP arbitration practices of the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based National Arbitration Forum (NAF). NAF is the number two provider of UDRP arbitration services, led only by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) – in 2010, WIPO ha...

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A video of the ICA presentation on “Public Policies Impacting Domain Investors” delivered on February 1, 2012 at the DOMAINfest 2012 conference held in Santa Monica, California is now available online at http://domainfest.com/mediaarchive/V9 . read more

ICA has strongly opposed the current versions of the PIPA and SOPA anti-piracy bills because of the grave threat they pose to all domain name industry intermediary companies of being alleged to be trafficking in domains constituting “counterfeit marks” under the bill’s overbroad and vague definitions, and to being deprived of essential payment and ...

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On Wednesday, October 26th a Workshop on the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) was held at the ICANN meeting in Dakar. The TMCH is a key global database that will be used for both sunrise services for new gTLDs as well as trademark claims. The workshop revealed that implementation of the TMCH involves the resolution of multiple complex issues within a...

On Sunday, October 23rd ICANN senior staffer Kurt Pritz made a lengthy presentation on “New gTLD Program Activities” to the GNSO Council meeting in Dakar. read more

ICANN’s GNSO Council, which sets policy for all gTLDs, engaged in a spirited one hour discussion of UDRP reform during its first day of meetings at the 42nd ICANN gathering in Dakar, Senegal. read more

In a September 21st letter sent by Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information Lawrence Strickling to U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) disclosed that it is “actively exploring how to best meet this requirement” for “a clear and enforced ethics and conflict of interest policy” i...

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt found himself in the crosshairs of a high-profile hearing held at the U.S. Senate Antitrust Subcommittee on September 21st. The inquiry, titled “The Power of Google: Serving Consumers or Threatening Competition?, focused primarily on whether Google’s search engine results tended to favor its growing portfolio ...

In an afternoon keynote address presented to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) USA meeting (http://www.igf-usa.us/) held July 18th at Georgetown University Law School in Washington, DC, Larry Strickling, the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Administrator, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) at the Departmen...

This Spring ICANN staff released a Preliminary Issue Report on the Current State of the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy, and followed up with a webinar featuring presentations by experts involved with all aspects of UDRP administration and representation. While the Report was of high quality, ICA was disappointed that the staff recommended that t...

On Wednesday, June 22nd a session was held at the Singapore ICANN meeting regarding “The Current State of the UDRP???, including the recently issued Preliminary Issues Report on the UDRP which is open for public comment until July 15th. That Report generally recommends that a Policy Development Process (PDP) should not be initiated on the UDRP -- ...

In a historic June 20th vote of thirteen yays to two nays, with two abstentions, ICANN’s Board of Directors voted in Singapore to approve the opening of the domain name system (DNS) to unlimited applications for new generic top level domains (gTLDs). The application period for the initial round will open on January 12, 2012 and close three months l...

After a daylong air journey from Washington to Singapore we spent the weekend ensconced in the Raffles Convention Center observing the workings of ICANN’s Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) policymaking body and trading news and rumors in the air conditioned hallways that provide shelter from the sweltering heat outside. Upon arrival we l...

When ICANN’s Board meets in Singapore in two weeks to consider approving the launch of new gTLDs it will mark the third anniversary of its 2008 vote in Paris to initiate the new gTLD project. The seemingly interminable process that has ensued over the past 36 months has brought many disturbing new ideas to fruition – including new ‘rights protectio...

On June 1st an ICANN comment period ended in regard to the process for terminating registry/registrar separation at incumbent gTLDs like .Com and .Net (announcement at http://icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-02may11-en.htm ). ICANN’s Board has decided that any new gTLDs will not be subject to such a separation requirement and will rely on ot...

Responding to a strongly worded ICA comment letter filed on May 15th, ICANN has deleted applicant evaluation criteria from the Final Applicant Guidebook (AG) for new gTLDs that would have encouraged applicants to constrain parked websites offering advertising links. read more

Last Friday, May 20, the ICANN Board and the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), held a joint teleconference to discuss remaining differences on the proposed final Applicant Guidebook AG) for the new gTLD program. Two days later they issued a Joint Statement regarding what transpired and how the process will go forward. read more

ICA has just submitted its sixth comment letter to ICANN in regard to the ever-evolving Applicant Guidebook (AG) for the new gTLD program. The latest version of the AG contains a new provision, tucked away in the evaluation questions for new gTLD applicants, that asks whether they will adopt policies to eliminate or minimize “social costs??? and “n...

The Internet Commerce Association has filed its comment letter with ICANN regarding the revised contract under which VeriSign will operate the .Net registry from July 1, 2011 going forward. read more

“I don’t see how new gTLDs can be approved in Singapore if the GAC isn’t satisfied that its concerns have been fully addressed”. So spoke Assistant Secretary for Commerce Lawrence Stickling in his keynote luncheon speech delivered at a Global Internet Governance workshop held at American University in Washington, DC on May 5...

The ongoing debate about the burgeoning U.S. federal deficit has been short on bipartisan agreement – except for the proposition that “we can no longer kick the can down the road”. read more

On Tuesday, May 10th ICANN will hold a webinar on the Current State of the UDRP. Details can be found at http://icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-21apr11-en.htm; those who wish to participate need to send an e-mail to [email protected] to receive the details. read more

On May 5-6 American University in Washington, DC will host a program on “Global Internet Governance: Research and Public Policy Challenges for the Next Decade”. Registration for the event, which will also be webcast, is free and can be made at http://www.amiando.com/GigaNET-DC-2011.html?page=518918. read more

Sticking rigorously to it’s the timetable (http://icann.org/en/minutes/draft-timeline-new-gtlds-18mar11-en.pdf ) for pre-launch wrap-up of the new gTLD program, ICANN has issued the latest and near-final version of the Applicant Guidebook (http://icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-2-15apr11-en.htm ). read more

While not every ICANN policy issue generates as much controversy or notice as new gTLDs, many seemingly mundane matters can nonetheless have a substantial impact on domainers and other registrants. One of those is the Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy (IRTP) that sets the rules for domain transfers between registrars. Good rules facilitate the workin...

ICANN’s Board of Directors moved decisively toward final implementation of the new gTLD program with a unanimous vote in favor of setting a timeline that contemplates final approval of the Applicant Guidebook (AG) at the June 2011 ICANN meeting in Singapore. The Board also voted to move forward and sign a contract with ICM Registry to operate...

The second day of public consultation between ICANN’s Board of Directors and its Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) ended on Thursday, March 17, 2011 with scant narrowing of remaining differences on multiple issues in the proposed Applicant Guidebook (AG) for new gTLDs – but with the revelation that opaque exchanges of views on trade...

On Monday, March 14th the ICANN Board held a public forum to discuss issues identified by the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) in regard to new gTLDs (full transcript available at http://svsf40.icann.org/node/22097). read more

The Internet Commerce Association has just sent an urgent letter of inquiry to ICANN’s Board Chairman and CEO raising two critical issues arising out of the just-concluded Board/GAC meeting in Brussels. read more

Having canceled all scheduled afternoon discussions to confer separately, the ICANN Board and GAC returned to their Brussels meeting room late Tuesday afternoon for a short and inconclusive exchange of views on their Applicant Guidebook disagreements, as well on as mapping the path forward. read more

U.S. “remote participants” who rose long before dawn to monitor the ICANN Board/GAC discussions awoke to a bad dream as the talks reached an impasse on nearly all issues, including how to move forward. By the close of the morning session – after Board member Cherine Chalaby remarked that “the energy level has dropped” ...

ICANN’s Board and its Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) engaged in a preliminary discussion of trademark protections for new gTLDs on day one of their conclave in Brussels, with more intensive exploration slated for day two. The topic was scheduled for an initial thirty minutes exploration but received somewhat more time, not surprisingly...

The ICA has just dispatched a letter to Assistant Secretary of Commerce Lawrence Strickling in advance of the talks scheduled in Brussels on February 29-March 1 between ICANN’s Board and its Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). Our letter expresses strong concerns that the positions being advocated by the U.S. government and the GAC regardi...

On Wednesday, February 16th the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing titled "Targeting Websites Dedicated To Stealing American Intellectual Property" (hearing webcast and all witness statements are available at http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=4982). read more

ICANN’s lead policymaking body has just initiated a UDRP reform process. Meeting telephonically on February 3, 2011, the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) adopted a series of Resolutions in response to the Report of the Registration Abuse Policy Working Group (RAPWG). ICA actively participated in the RAPWG. Resolution #2 is the o...

On Friday, January 28th the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) circulated its submission to ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) containing suggestions for what positions the GAC should push for at its February 28 – March 1 meeting with ICANN’s Board to air disagreements over provisions of the Proposed Final Applicant Guid...

The Internet Commerce Association has just filed supplementary comments with ICANN regarding the proposed test for automatic disqualification of applicants for new gTLDs. read more

Back in November 2010 we noted that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, under Congressional mandate, was soliciting comments regarding how trademark “bullies” abuse the judicial system. (See http://www.internetcommerce.org/PTO_Asks_for_Data_on_Trademark_Bullies ). read more

On Monday, December 6 – the opening day of ICANN’s Cartagena meeting – ICA filed a request that ICANN extend the deadline for comments on the proposed Final Applicant Guidebook for new gTLDs by 2-3 weeks beyond its original end date of Friday, December 10. Our letter (available at http://forum.icann.org/lists/5gtld-guide/msg00021....

ICANN’s Board ended the Cartagena meeting with a contention-free public session that left potential new gTLD applicants and all other interested parties with continuing uncertainty about when -- and even if—the new gTLD Guidebook will be finalized and a date certain set for the submission of applications. But it seemed to put in place a...

Having received no response to its request that the comment period on the proposed Final Applicant Guidebook for the new gTLD program be extended by an additional 14-21 days, the ICA today filed its comments while participating in the ongoing Cartagena meeting. ICA will be speaking on these points to the ICANN Board at the Thursday, December 9th Pu...