Tag Archives: ICANN

Mon 15th June 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
.XXX Extension Heading To Arbitration To Beat The New gTLD Clock - ICM Registry’s top-level domain .XXX proposal is going to arbitration in Washington in late September. ICM Registry is asking for a three-judge panel to rule in favor of its application to serve as .XXX registry operator” because it met criteria set forth in a December 2003 request for proposal”. ICM Registry claims in more than a 1,000 pages of documents that ICANN acted inconsistently with its own articles of incorporation and bylaws in rejecting its application. ICM has been chasing the ... read more ...
Wed 10th June 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Rumor Of The Day: Who Will Be ICANN New CEO? - According to the Internet Governance Project blog, Rod Beckstrom, the former director of the US Homeland Security Department’s National Cybersecurity Center, may be the new CEO of ICANN. The blog also says  that David Eisner, the CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service under G.W. Bush and former VP at AOL, is in the running. “”””Perhaps someone familiar with DC is a prudent choice, given ICANN’s recent performance there. Beckstrom is best known for his dramatic resignation ... read more ...
Tue 9th June 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
The ICA “Urges The Commerce Department to Extend and Revise Their Agreement with ICANN” - The Internet Commerce Association (the “ICA) made public tonight the comments it filed with U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) which is considering their agreement with ICANN with expires on September 30, 2009. If anyone doesn’t understand the importance of having the ICA representing the interests of the average domainer, after taking into acccount this letter, the amicus brief that the ICA filed and which was cited by the Appeals Court in overturning the previous dismissal in favor of VeriSign ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Industry Blog Watch - A look at what domain bloggers and news sites are writing about this week. Various domain news sites and bloggers have written some great articles this week that are worth referring to. Demand for new gTLDs – Michael Berkens beat me to writing a story about ICANN CEO Paul Twomey’s comments about new gTLD demand. Twomey refers to demand as demand by people who want to launch new TLDs, not people who want to actually register them. Change your Passwords – Elliot ... read more ...
Fri 5th June 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Appeals Court Reverses & Allows Suit Against Verisign To Go To Trial: This Is A BIG Deal - A lawsuit was filed in 2005 over the no bid, VeriSign contract, with ICANN which gave VeriSign a monopoly to administer the .com and .net registries., by the Coalition for ICANN Transparency (“CFIT”). Today the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,  reversed the lower court, and allowed the case to proceed against VeriSign, in the case of: CFIT v. VERISIGN, INC. The court lays out the case history very well in easy to read form. “”””CFIT’s complaint endeavored to state ... read more ...
Thu 4th June 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Congress Finally Calls ICANN Out On It’s Finances - Florida Republican Cliff Stearns (a fellow Gator)  called ICANN out on its finances , noting that the last balance sheet the nonprofit group showed a $7 million surplus. “You should take that $7 million and make sure that cyber-squatters are gone,” he said. “I think your job should be not just developing a surplus but actually implementing,  making it cheaper for consumers,   and actually doing your mission.” Bravo. This is what we have been saying for a long time, especially after ICANN ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Verizon Testifies To Congress Against a New gTLD’s - The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Verizon,  testified in front of the House Energy and Commerce Internet Subcommitteepanel, which is holding hearings on ICANN,  that new gTLD’s shouldn’t be allowed unless there is a proven market demand for the names and the Internet is secure and stable. ICANN President Paul Twomey said in his testimony in front of the same committee, “There is a demand. Geographic names like dot.NYC and dot.Berlin are being proposed along with others like dot.sport, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Technology Policy Institute To Speak during ICANN Hearings - Authors of recent study about ICANN to provide testimony. Thomas Lenard of Technology Policy Institute and co-author of a recent study about ICANN’s structure will provide testimony at today’s congressional hearings on ICANN. Yesterday Domain Name Wire reported about Go Daddy’s planned testimony. Lenard’s testimony will also call for reform of ICANN before it is cut loose, according to a document on TPI’s web site (pdf). However, as I noted when TPI’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Congress Beats Up ICANN (Part 1) - Members of the House rip into ICANN over pricing, transparency, and security. It wasn’t pretty. For better than two hours today, members of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet took turns ripping into Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and its President/CEO Paul Twomey. If nothing else, ICANN’s experience on Capitol Hill today will give it all the more reason to try to get out of U.S. oversight. In ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Congress Beats Up ICANN (Part 3) - Question and answer period at hearing gets testy. In part 1 of our coverage of today’s U.S. House of Representatives hearing on ICANN, DNW covered committee member’s opening remarks. Part two covered witnesses’ opening testimony. The real fireworks started when the committee members asked questions of the witnesses. Committee chairman Rick Boucher (D-Virginia) started the questioning by following up on Verizon’s comments about cybersquatting. (Verizon ... read more ...
Wed 3rd June 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Names a Topic on Capitol Hill Thursday - Hearing to discuss ICANN’s future will be held Thursday. Domain names, specifically ICANN, will be discussed tomorrow in Washington. The House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet will hold a congressional hearing tomorrow about the future of ICANN and the U.S. government’s involvement. ICANN has already garnered the support of Al Gore and former ICANN chairman Vint Cerf that the joint project agreement should be concluded, effectively ... read more ...
Tue 2nd June 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
The ICA’s Take On The Uniform Rapid Suspension & What’s it’s Going To Do About It - The Internet Commerce Association (the ICA) has just released its statement regarding the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) proposal of the trademark group making up the IRT committee of ICANN. Yesterday we published a post, discussing  the IRT committee and their proposals to increase protection for trademark holders in the domain world and make effect that would have on all domain holders, the most troubling of which is the URS. Today the ICA released the following statement outlining their position ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Goes Back to Professor to Clarify New gTLD Demand - Original report author to address feedback. In March 2009 ICANN released two reports from professor Dennis Carlton of The University of Chicago about demand for new global top level domain names and competition. At the time, Domain Name Wire described them as “whitewash” reports. They were essentially propaganda pieces supporting ICANN’s view that there is demand for new TLDs, and showed that Carlton lacked general understanding of the top level domain ... read more ...
Mon 1st June 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
ICANN GuideBook 2.0 Comment Report: Still No Price Caps - In the almost 300 page report of the comments received on the new gTLD  guidebook version 2, the issue of most concern to domain holders, is still on the table. Despite many comments, including ours, calling for ICANN to place price caps on registries for the new gTLD’s for registrations and renewals, ICANN choice to keep them out. At issue, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. If the registries of the new gTLD’s are allowed to price registrations and renewals differently for ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Hate UDRP’s: Say Hello To Something Much Worse, The Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS): Get Ready To Lose Your Domains - Trademark holders, unhappy with UDRP’s, a system under which they already have over a 85% win rate, formed a group, The Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT), which was given committee status by ICANN’s Intellectual Property Constituency “to give additional protection to trademark holders  in the implementation of new gTLDs”. If you want to see a list of members of the IRT click here. The 68 page,  IRT final report was released late Friday night.  The committee which was suppose to ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Will Software Makers Really Support New TLDs? - Unclear if software makers will support all new top level domain names. One issue for top level domain name applicants is getting software makers, such as e-mail software companies, to approve their top level domains and make them work with their software. The second draft guidebook for new TLD applicants provides a lengthy warning about this, stating that applicants “may find themselves expending considerable efforts working with providers to achieve acceptance ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Governments Want Control of New Geo Domain Names - Governmental Advisory Committee continues push for control of domains at top and second levels. One of the more disturbing debates about the launch of new top level domain names is a land grab by Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). Think of GAC as a United Nations scheme for domain names. They were given a voice at the table to prove that ICANN isn’t just a puppet of the U.S. government. GAC wants to protect both top level domains and second level domain names ... read more ...
Sun 31st May 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Trademark Group Pushes Rapid Domain Takedown Scheme - Group submits final report to ICANN. Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT), an ad hoc group put together to represent trademark interests in the launch of new top level domains, has issued its final report (pdf). The report will be discussed at ICANN’s next meeting in Sydney. The part that seems most relevant to domain investors is the Uniform Rapid Suspension system (URS). Think of it as a fast track UDRP for obvious trademark cases. Here are few of my observations: 1. ... read more ...
Wed 27th May 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Demand Media Awarded Patent for Tiered Domain Name Registrations - The return of domain name tasting? Demand Media, parent company of eNom, has been awarded United States Patent 7539774 for “Method for domain name registration and a corresponding apparatus”. The patent application was filed in 2005 and appears to be targeted toward domain monetization of low traffic domains. The idea would be for the registry, such as VeriSign (NSDQ: VRSN), to offer domain registrations at different prices but with different rights. For example, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New Top Level Domain Demand Still Elusive - Hard to prove demand for new top level domain names One of the key questions facing ICANN and the internet community is if there is any demand for new top level domain names should they be released. So far no one has released convincing evidence of demand. And if past TLD launches are any indication, demand will be minimal. One company, Quintaris, has taken a stab at proving demand by allowing people to ‘backorder’ new domains at Pool. These backorders are ... read more ...
Thu 21st May 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Senators Push for Strickling to Keep Eye on ICANN - Incoming NTIA chief asked to keep close eye on ICANN agreement. U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe (of the infamous “Snowe Bill” ), R-Maine, and Bill Nelson, D-Fla, are pushing for incoming National Telecommunications Information Administration chief Larry Strickling to keep a watchful eye on ICANN, reports Nextgov. NTIA is currently requesting comments regarding what should happen to the Joint Project Agreement between the U.S. government and ICANN that expires September ... read more ...
Wed 20th May 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Battle Erupts Between Domain Registries and Registrars - Existing registries fight registrars over registry-registrar separation. Registries: In this corner we have three registry providers, Public Interest Registry, Afilias, and NeuStar. They provide the backend and management of domain names such as .org, .biz, and .info, that are sold to customers by registrars. Registrars: In this corner we have domain name registrars hoping to profit from the release of new top level domain names. Issue: Until now, there have been ... read more ...
Sat 16th May 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
ICANN Issues Advsiory To Customers Of OnlineNic.com: You Can Transfer Your Domains - Over the past days readers to this blog have left comments regarding their inability to transfer domains they had registered at OnlineNic.com to any other registrar. I sent these comments over to Phil Corwin of the Internet Commerce Association (ICA) who contacted ICANN on behalf of these domainers. Tonight in response, ICANN issued the following advisory to all Onlinenic.com customers: Customers of registrar OnlineNIC who had problems with previous transfer requests should now be able to transfer ... read more ...
Wed 13th May 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN.gone? Internet Battle Set for this Fall - U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) questions future of DNS management. ICANN’s Joint Project Agreement (JPA) with the U.S. government ends in September, and already countries around the world are asking that control of the domain name system be pulled from the U.S. There are sure to be big battles ahead. NTIA is seeking public comment (pdf) on ICANN and the termination of the JPA. In reality, ICANN ... read more ...
Fri 8th May 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New Top Level Domain Names Delayed - Applications won’t be accepted until early 2010. Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has pushed back its estimated time frame to start accepting applications for new top level domains. ICANN had hoped to accept applications by December 2009, but now admits the process won’t start until first quarter of 2010. ICANN hopes to address overarching concerns about new TLDs at its next meeting in Sydney and then publish the third draft of the ... read more ...