DigitalBrandNews

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.

March 17, 2009

Allegations of cybersquatting by trademark holders continued to rise in 2008, with a record 2,329 complaints filed under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Center.

In a report containing details on cybersquatting the WIPO Director General also took the opportunity to comment on the New gTLD process. “The creation of an unknowable and potentially vast number of new gTLDs raises significant issues for rights holders, as well as Internet users generally,” said Mr. Francis Gurry, WIPO Director General. “Cybersquatting remains a serious issue for trademark holders .”

This statement comes after ICANN has agreed to form a committee specifically to address these and other concerns of trademark holders before moving forward with approving new gTLDs.

Read the full WIPO release

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.