New ICANN announcement on New gTLD Program

Tue May 12 00:39:49 CEST 2009

New ICANN announcement on New gTLD Program.   Dates pushed back to
2010 to accept new applications.  Next Applicant Guidebook will come
out in Sept.

Robin

http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-07may09-en.htm

New gTLD Program Update
7 May 2009

ICANN continues to move forward in the implementation of the new gTLD
Program while balancing and addressing community concerns on specific
aspects of the program. The public comment period on the second
version of the applicant guidebook recently closed and work continues
to proceed regarding the discussion of overarching issues.

In order to continue progress and the community discussion, ICANN will:

Publish an analysis of comments similar to that published after the
fist version of the Guidebook,
Conduct consultations and fora at the Sydney meeting and afterward to
develop solutions to the overarching issues,
Publish the third version of the Guidebook after the Sydney meeting
when solutions to the overarching issues can be included.
With that in mind, it is anticipated that applications for new top-
level domains will be accepted starting in the first quarter of 2010.

Guidebook Analysis

As with the first version of the Guidebook, ICANN will organize and
report a synopsis of all the comment made in the ICANN comment forum
as well as at the ICANN meeting in Mexico City. The report will
analyse comment by category and balance different proposals made. The
goals of the report are to:

analyse the comment in order to develop amendments to the Guidebook
that are consonant with the meaningful input of the community, and
demonstrate that the comment is taken seriously and carefully
considered.
ICANN will not be producing a third version of the Applicant
Guidebook for new generic top-level domains before its upcoming June
meeting in Sydney, Australia. This is because the discussion of
overarching issues will continue through the meeting and beyond (as
was expected). Publication of a new Guidebook version without
addressing these issues might signal that they are not considered
important.

In order to provide specifics and point up discussion, the Comment
Analysis will be accompanied by several excerpted redlined sections
of the Guidebook so that potential changes can be discussed. These
excerpted sections are being developed in response to the recently
closed public comment forum and will be published in time for
discussion in the Sydney meeting.

Overarching Issues

ICANN previously identified four overarching issues with respect to
the new gTLD program. Significant progress has been made on each and
the Sydney meeting will be used to focus on that work in the hope of
finding solutions.

For example, a session dedicated to trademark issues will take place
on Wednesday, 24 June at the Sydney meeting. There will also be an
update session on the opening day of the meeting, as well as the
usual updates and public forums.

Starting with the first session in Sydney, regional events will be
held in Europe, the Americas and Asia, to develop Guidebook solutions
to Trademark issues. Those sessions will discuss solutions offered by
the Implementation Recommendation Team (http://www.icann.org/en/
announcements/announcement-24apr09-en.htm) and other sources.

Timing

The comment analysis and redlined Guidebook sections will be
published in time for discussion at the Sydney meeting. The third
version of the Guidebook is scheduled to be published in early
September; the comment period for that version will close after the
ICANN meeting in Seoul (25-30 October 2009). This timing enables the
publication of the final Guidebook and following a communications
period, the acceptance of applications in the first quarter of 2010.

New gTLDs and the Internet

Openness Change Innovation

After years of discussion and thought, generic Top-Level Domains
(gTLDs) are being expanded. They will allow for more innovation,
choice and change to a global Internet presently served by just 21
generic top-level domain names.

A draft Applicant Guidebook describing the detailed application
process has been developed with opportunities for public comment.
Additional information on the Program can be found at: http://
www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtld-program.htm.

ICANN is a not for profit corporation dedicated to coordinating the
Internet's addressing system. Promoting competition and choice is one
of the principles upon which ICANN was founded. In a world with 1.5
billion Internet users (and growing), diversity, choice and
innovation are key. The Internet has supported huge increases in
choice, innovation and the competition of ideas and expanding new
gTLDs is an opportunity for more.

For those interested in knowing more about the process, program and
future meetings please visit the New gTLD Program webpage at: http://
www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtld-program.htm.

An online wiki outlines progress on the overarching issues and can be
found at: https://st.icann.org/new-gtld-overarching-issues/index.cgi