String confusion objection ruling is overturned.
Verisign’s successful string confusion objection against Rightside’s .cam top level domain name has been overturned.
ICANN was put in a sticky situation after Verisign’s string confusion objections against two .cam applicants failed, but it prevailed against Rightside’s .cam application.
The group decided to have a panel review the Rightside decision, and that panel has overturned (pdf) the original decision. As a result, the two other applicants for .cam will now have to duke it out with Rightside for control of the top level domain.
Of all of the string confusion objections, Verisign’s objection to .cam was among the strongest.
In a statement published on Domain Incite, Rightside CEO Taryn Naidu said:
We always felt strongly that the first panel’s decision was seriously flawed. How can .CAM in one application be different from the .CAM in another application when evaluated on the basis of string similarity? The fact is, it can’t.
While I tend to agree with this assessment, you can be forgiven for comparing Naidu to a politician that speaks out of both sides of his mouth. Originally, Rightside took the complete opposite position: it argued against consolidation of the .cam cases because each applicant could make different arguments, resulting in different outcomes.
The outcome of the review doesn’t affect Verisign as much as it affects competing applicants AC Webconnecting BV and dotAgency Limited. Verisign already knew that someone would be allowed to run the .cam domain; now it’s just a matter of which of the three parties instead of two.
ElephantMemory says
what about .bom, I wonder ?