More on the STI Drafting team (trademark protection in new gTLDs)

[Kathy Kleiman]

Hi All,
I promised a follow-up to my email of 11/4 and an update of our work
(the NCSG STI drafting team) on the URS & Trademark Clearinghouse process.

I wanted to share what happened after our NCSG meeting of Tuesday in
Seoul.... When we had arrived in Seoul, we weren't sure of the
atmosphere we would find. As you know, at the prior Sydney meeting had
been very confrontational: we (many members of NCUC) felt that there
were one-sided papers making their way through ICANN -- and that the
rights and concerns of registrants were not being taken into account. We
feared for the future of domain names held by human rights groups, small
noncommercial organizations, and individuals. And we said so.

By the time we reached Seoul, we felt listened to. The Board had drafted
a letter to the GNSO Council sending back the proposed Trademark
Clearinghouse and Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) back to the GNSO for
review -- but a very fast review!

The question for me, as we entered Seoul was: would a fast review be
possible and would everyone come to table?

As I discussed in my last email, at our NCSG Constituency meeting, we
spent a lot of time drafting principles for our work. Those principles
included protecting registrants, but also protecting noncommercial
organizations which hold trademarks and need protection as well. It was
good work.

On Wednesday,October 28^th , I had the privilege of delivering our NCSG
position in a big session called "Trademark Protection in new gTLDs." I
thought very carefully about what I wanted to say -- how much I wanted
to share our positions and principles -- and how much I wanted to invite
everyone to come to the table -- to speak and to negotiate.

On the panel, we first talked first about the Clearinghouse, and then
the URS. Differences were clear, but it still wasn't clear we could
negotiate with each other. I concluded my remarks with these thoughts:

"And as a final note -- and I wanted to share this with everyone as
we go through the new mechanisms -- we in the NCUC want to work with
you. We want to establish common ground, and we wish the best of
luck for all of us in this expedited process."

How would those thoughts -- and that invitation-- be accepted? I can
tell you that I truly had no idea what the response would be.

During Q&A session, when the microphones were opened, we learned the
response.
Zahid Jamil, a leader of the Business Constituency, responded:

"First of all, I would like to acknowledge and thank
Kathy for the NCUC's constructive invitation to work with goodwill.
We look forward to the sentiment continuing in the GNSO. So thank
you for that."

Also, J. Scott Evans, new President of the Intellectual Property
Constituency spoke:
"I worked with Kathy Kleiman, and we drafted the UDRP final version with
Louis Touton and a group of other talented people, many of whom are
here today. **** We want to work with registries, registrars, NCUC.
That's what we're
here for. We're problem solvers. We want to solve the problem.
Thank you for the opportunity, and we look forward to working
together in the near future. [Applause]"

And that was it -- everyone came to the table to talk: Registrars,
Registries, Business, NCSG, Intellectual Property.

And the STI Drafting team has been talking ever since -- almost nonstop!
Your faithful STI drafting team members -- Wendy, Konstantinos, Robin
and I -- have been on constant phone calls, teleconferences and email
since we returned from Seoul. Some calls are with the entire STI
drafting team and others with smaller groups. We are all investigating,
questioning, negotiating and probing -- all the stakeholder members. We
are working together.

So that's the current update. In our next STI email, Konstantinos will
share the NCSG position statement we circulated today, reflecting our
ideas and priorities, and his thoughts on the process and progress.

Best,
Kathy

p.s. Attached is the transcript. Also available are the slides prepared
and presented by Board member and panel moderator Bruce Tonkin, the
audio, and additional panel materials at the ICANN website --
http://sel.icann.org/node/7116


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