CircleID

In a public letter posted on ICM Registry's Website, Stuart Lawley, Chairman and President of the organization has announced that last week an independent review petition against ICANN was filed. In March 2007, ICM's application for a new .XXX Top-Level Domain (TLD) was rejected by ICANN after a three year long process costing ICM reportedly over US$ 4 million in total (view all related posting). Following is the text from today's announcement:

"ICM has been wrongfully denied the opportunity to operate the proposed .XXX sTLD and gain the significant "first mover" business advantage that would have flowed from its registry contract for what has always been regarded as one of the more sought after and popular expected new TLDs. Further, ICANN's rejection of ICM's application has denied the benefits the sTLD would have provided to the sponsored community and other stakeholders, namely, empowering individuals wishing to select or avoid such adult content websites to do so easily and establishing a forum for the online adult entertainment community to communicate and proactively respond to the needs and concerns of the broader Internet community.

Indeed, this case—the first of its kind—strikes at the very heart of Internet governance. The arbitrary and discriminatory manner in which ICANN treated ICM's sTLD application requires a re-evaluation of such fundamental questions as "who" should govern the Internet and "how" should the Internet be governed. Under these circumstances, nothing less than an independent, impartial, and objective assessment of the facts and the law as they apply to ICANN's decision to reject ICM's application is required. Ultimately, the independent review and the resulting declarations from the three member panel will put to the test ICANN's true commitment to its core values and limited mission."

Full text of the announcement is posted on ICM Registry's website.

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Related topics: Domain Names, ICANN, Top-Level Domains