Hearing in DC on New gTLDs yesterday

[Robin Gross]

Thanks, Kathy, for that update on the hearing yesterday (I've been  
looking for a copy of the audio of that hearing with no luck so far).

That is also great to hear the news about the changes being made to  
the IRT (like dropping GPML) and sending some parts of that back to  
the GNSO for community input.  That is what we asked for in Sydney  
(and now we have to do that work which we asked for)  :-)

Thank you!
Robin


On Sep 24, 2009, at 7:36 AM, Kathy Kleiman wrote:

> Hi All,
> I wanted to share a few thoughts on the hearing held by Congress on  
> New gTLDs yesterday. Since I live here in Washington DC, I was able  
> to hop the Metro and go down to see it. It was called: Hearing on  
> “The Expansion of Top Level Domains and its Effects on Competition.”
>
> There were 4 witnesses who testified: Doug Brent for ICANN, Paul  
> Stahura for eNom, Richard Heath for International Trademark Assoc.,  
> and Steve DelBianco for NetChoice (a organization of Verisign and  
> others). So, 2 for new gTLDs (ICANN/eNom) and two against them  
> (INTA/Netchoice-- although NetChoice wants IDNs to move forward).
>
> Basically, the premise was that ICANN is not doing enough to  
> protect big trademark owners, and who needs new gTLDs anyway?
>
> Doug Brent properly said that expansion of the root has been part  
> of ICANN's mission since the beginning. New gTLDs will help  
> registrant choice, competition generally, and serve the rest of the  
> world with IDNs. He said ICANN has had at least 3 studies on the  
> New gTLD program, and that the additional studies being called for  
> may or may not be needed; ICANN is looking into it. But he said,  
> rightly, that at some point the studies have to stop and work to go  
> forward.
>
> Brent also said that the policies and procedures for the new gTLDs  
> have been in development at ICANN for years – and came up through  
> the GNSO process, with ICANN community involvement. He said that  
> the process has worked.
>
> Richard Heath, from the International Trademark Association and the  
> UK, said that new gTLDs are: linked to increased crime, threaten  
> health and safety, tarnish existing trademarks, and are only being  
> done to get the money from defensive registrations. (Wow!)
>
> Paul Stahura from eNom wants new gTLDs. He said that there is  
> consumer demand for new gTLDs, new gTLDs will create competition in  
> price, service, and offerings, and that is definitely time for  
> ICANN to move forward. He also noted later that to roll out IDNs  
> without rolling out new gTLDs in English would be unfair – to have  
> a .BLOG in Chinese and not in English, he argued, would be unfair  
> to eNom and others.
>
> Steve DelBianco was interesting. He is a smooth Washington person  
> and obviously has testified many times. He represents NetChoice, a  
> group which includes VeriSign, and he said that no new gTLDs are  
> needed except IDNs. “With almost 200 million registered domains  
> today, it is hard to see how choice is constrained in any  
> meaningful way...” He said ICANN should enable IDNs before  
> expanding Latin gTLDs-- but only IDNs for “country-code domains  
> controlled by governments.”
>
> One great piece of news that came out is that the work we (NCUC)  
> did over the summer is definitely helping shape the debate. As you  
> know, Konstantinos and I in Washington DC and Leslie in China had  
> long detailed meetings with ICANN staff in August, and made strong  
> and well-researched recommendations. Our great work in Sydney – by  
> all who attended and went up to the microphones to protest the IRT  
> Report- was important too!
>
> According to Doug's testimony yesterday, ICANN will be sending the  
> IP Clearinghouse and URS (UDRP replacement) to the GNSO for review!  
> The Globally Protected Marks List appears to be gone completely!  
> This is very good news... and an important future piece of work  
> that we (NCUC) should start working on right away.
>
> That's the scoop from DC.
> Best,
> Kathy (Kleiman)
> p.s. Sorry to miss the NCUC held at the same time!




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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