<div class="gmail_quote"><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div lang="EN-GB" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div><p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><u></u><u></u></span></p>

<p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">On 7 February 2012, the ICANN Board reaffirmed ICANN's commitment to opening a second round of applications in the New gTLD Program as expeditiously as possible.</span></p>

</div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>As strongly suggested by Sebastien at the Singapore vote. </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div lang="EN-GB" link="blue" vlink="purple">

<div><p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><u></u><u></u></span></p><p><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><br></font></p><p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In addition, ICANN is </span><span lang="FR" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><a href="http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/newgtlds-defensive-applications-06feb12-en.htm" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">seeking public comment on certain trademark protections</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> in the New gTLD Program. Some stakeholders recently indicated that there are concerns about the perceived need for "defensive" applications at the top level, and encouraged ICANN to ensure that the program was launched in a manner that protects intellectual property rights. The public comment will help ICANN clarify the scope and benefits of the available protections as well as understand and respond to specific concerns with them.</span></p>

</div></div></blockquote><div>ICANN "feels your pain" department.</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div lang="EN-GB" link="blue" vlink="purple">

<div><p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><u></u><u></u></span></p><p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Finally, ICANN continues to push forward with its program to provide financial and other forms of assistance to qualifying applicants. Having designed an </span><span lang="FR" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><a href="http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/candidate-support" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Applicant Support Program</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> and an </span><span lang="FR" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><a href="http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/candidate-support#financial-assistance" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Applicant Assistance Handbook</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, ICANN is now </span><span lang="FR" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><a href="http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-3-03feb12-en.htm" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">seeking independent panel members</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> to help make financial award decisions. Global diversity and broad sets of experiences will be required and ICANN encourages those interested to seek additional information.<u></u><u></u></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><u></u> </span></p></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>I trust we are well represented. </div>

</div>-- <br>---------------------------------------------------------------<br>Joly MacFie  218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast<br>WWWhatsup NYC - <a href="http://wwwhatsup.com" target="_blank">http://wwwhatsup.com</a><br> <a href="http://pinstand.com" target="_blank">http://pinstand.com</a> - <a href="http://punkcast.com" target="_blank">http://punkcast.com</a><br>

 VP (Admin) - ISOC-NY - <a href="http://isoc-ny.org" target="_blank">http://isoc-ny.org</a><br>--------------------------------------------------------------<br>-<br>