ICANN has just opened up a comment period on whether new gTLD strings should be allowed to register, sell and allocate two character new gTLD domain names i.e (LL, NN, NL, LN) This exact comment period concerns those registries including Donuts that asked ICANN to allow these two charterer domains to be registered "In total, the requests concern 148 New gTLDs." Of course this is the … [Read more...]
The DotCom Act and Why Democrats Think It is Unnecessary
The DotCom Act is starting to get a little more steam behind it, over the past week Grover G. Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform, sent a letter urging support and in that letter picked out .SUCKS. The ability to establish domain names does indeed come with its own powerand responsibility. ICANN has the ability to “extract defensive registration payments,” which blackmail businesses … [Read more...]
Special Rights for IGOs and INGOs Could Lead To Registrant Rights Disappearing When it Comes to UDRP
A slight change of one word could open the door for domain registrant rights to evaporate over time. Currently ICANN is looking at a Preliminary Issue Report on Access by IGOs (Inter Governmental Organization )and INGOs (Inter Non Governmental Organization) to the Curative Rights Protections of the UDRP and URS. You can read all the comments here. The Intellectual Property Constituency (“IPC”) … [Read more...]
Politico: House Appropriations Proposes To Cut NTIA Funding To Prevent ICANN Transition
According to Politico.com the House Appropriations Committee is proposing to slash NTIA spending by 20% to defund the IANA transition. "The House Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations subcommittee report on its FY15 funding bill unveiled this week expresses wariness about NTIA's plan to relinquish oversight of ICANN." "The language won't be official until the full committee approves it - … [Read more...]
ICANN Seeks Provider To Conduct A Review of The Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO)
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN") is seeking a provider to conduct an independent review of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO), as mandated by ICANN's Bylaws. The GNSO is the policy-making body responsible for generic top-level domains, such as .COM, .NET, and .ORG. Its members include representatives from generic Top Level Domains (gTLD) … [Read more...]
After 50 ICANN Meetings, Its Amazing ICANN Never Held A Meeting In These 10 Places
ICANN is about to hold its 50th meeting in London from June 21st. June 25, 2014. Looking back at the previous 49 ICANN general meetings and where they have been held. I figured I would point out 10 spots around the globe that its pretty hard to believe ICANN has not held a meeting in. None of these cities have ever been the host of an ICANN meeting: 1. New York City In my opinion … [Read more...]
The ICA Comments on ICANN Preliminary Issue Report on IGOs and INGOs
Phil Corwin of the ICA has sent a comment to ICANN regarding the Preliminary Issue Report on Access by IGOs and INGOs to the Curative Rights Protections of the UDRP and URS. In that report, the staff recommended the GNSO Council initiate a PDP (Policy Development Process) to see if they should modify the UDRP and URS process so that IGOs and INGOs could access these as to basically go after … [Read more...]