trademark lobby still dominating discussion at ICANN

[Robin Gross]

Hi there,

The trademark lobby has succeeded in convincing the ICANN Board it  
needs special treatments in the introduction of new gtlds (see below  
ICANN press release).

We will need to ensure that this new "Team" includes a balanced  
perspective and not only trademark extremists who will over-state the  
rights of trademark holders and understate the rights of ordinary  
individuals or others who have a lawful right to discuss trademarked  
products and companies.

Has there been any discussion of this IRT on the GNSO Counsel?   How  
do we make sure that balanced perspectives make their way onto the  
new "ITR Team"?

Thanks,
Robin



Trademark Issues to be Addressed Ahead of Internet Address Expansion
Discussions Show Progress

6 March 2009

Mexico City, Mexico… March 7, 2009: ICANN's 34th International public  
meeting in Mexico City has drawn to a close after the organization's  
Board of Directors approved the establishment by staff of an  
Implementation  Recommendation Team (IRT) comprised of an  
internationally diverse group of  people to develop and propose  
solutions to the over-arching issue of trademark protection in  
connection with the introduction of new generic top level domain   
names (gTLDs).

"The Board has clearly heard and believes strongly that the concerns  
of trademark holders must be addressed before this process is opened  
for applications," said Peter Dengate Thrush, Chairman of the Board  
of Directors of ICANN. "The establishment of this team, is an attempt  
to get proposed solutions from the people with skill in trademark  
protection and other issues."

The IRT will be comprised of people who put forward solutions in the  
first public comment period on the new GTLD Applicant Guidebook. The  
IRT has been asked to draft a report by 24 April for comment and to  
produce a final report no later than 24 May so it can be considered  
at ICANN's Sydney meeting in June.

The Mexico City meeting was also saw the release of a study that  
pointed to the public benefit of new gTLDs.

The study, commissioned by ICANN, was conducted by University of  
Chicago Economics Professor Dennis Carlton. "The likely effect of  
ICANN's proposal is to increase output, lower price and increase  
innovation," said Carlton. "I conclude that ICANN's proposed  
framework for introducing new TLDs is likely to improve consumer  
welfare by facilitating entry and creating new competition."

In other notable decisions, the Board discussed the substance of  
changes to the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) which include:

New enforcement tools – new Registrar Audit and a group liability  
provision amongst other things.
Registrant protections – shining a light on the risks of proxy  
registration.
Consistent minimum standards of service for all registrars.
A modernizing of the agreement to get up-to-date with the domain name  
market.
These changes were unanimously agreed upon by the Generic Names  
Supporting Organization (GNSO). The Board asked that the changes be  
published for public comment for no less than thirty days with a  
commitment to act on approval of the amendments at the earliest  
opportunity.

"This maintains a policy of timely, accurate and unrestricted public  
access to Whois data but also adds new enforcement tools which fits  
well with ICANN's increased emphasis on compliance" said Paul Twomey,  
President and CEO of ICANN.

Attendees of the Mexico City conference also discussed the impacts of  
Internationalized Domain Names (IDN), which will allow internet uses  
to enter internet addresses in languages other than English.

Further, implementation of the upgrade of the Internet's protocol to  
IPv6, which will vastly expand the number of available Internet  
addresses was also a topic of discussion. Estimates are that under  
the current protocol (IPv4) the number of available internet  
addresses will be exhausted in 3 to 4 years.

Finally, ICANN Board Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush thanked the  
Internet Mexican Association (AMIPCI) for helping to coordinate and  
host the Mexico City Conference.

ICANN's next international public meeting is scheduled to take place  
in Sydney, Australia, 21- 26 June, 2009.




IP JUSTICE
Robin Gross, Executive Director
1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA  94117  USA
p: +1-415-553-6261    f: +1-415-462-6451
w: http://www.ipjustice.org     e: robin at ipjustice.org



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