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Government Advisory Committee (GAC) Beijing Communiqué Inconsistent With ICANN's gTLD Policy

The GAC Communiqué recommends that ICANN implement a range of regulations (which the GAC calls "safeguards") for all new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) covering areas ranging from malware to piracy to trademark and copyright infringement. The GAC proposes specific safeguards for regulated and professional sectors covering areas as diverse as privacy and security, consumer protection, fair lending and organic farming. Finally, the GAC proposes a "public interest" requirement for approval of new "exclusive registry access" gTLDs. more»

ICANN and GAC: A New Role Needed?

Syracuse University professor Milton Mueller published a blog under the title "Will the GAC go away if the Board doesn't follow its advice?". Having been to a number of (very limited) ICANN meetings on behalf of law enforcement cooperation, I would like to share a few - probably thought provoking - observations. The GAC should not leave ICANN but it may be more efficient if its role changed and its efforts were aimed at a different form of output. more»

ICANN at the Inflection Point: Implications and Effects Of the GAC Beijing Communique

Although this article was first published just a few days ago, on May 8th, there have been several important intervening developments. First, on May 10th ICANN released a News Alert on "NGPC Progress on GAC Advice" that provides a timetable for how the New gTLD program Committee will deal with the GAC Communique. Of particular note is that, as the last action in an initial phase consisting of "actions for soliciting input from Applicants and from the Community', the NGPC will begin to "Review and consider Applicant responses to GAC Advice and Public Comments on how Board should respond to GAC Advice... more»

What New gTLD Applicants Need Is a Quick, Lightweight Answer to the World's Governments. Here It Is.

It's safe to say that with just a week to go before ICANN intended to sign the first contract for a new gTLD, the last thing anyone wanted was a 12-page document from the world's governments with 16 new "safeguards", six of which it wants to see applied to every new extension. But what the industry shouldn't overlook, especially in the face of the expected critical responses this week and next, is that the Governmental Advisory Committee's (GAC's) formal advice from the ICANN Beijing meeting represents an opportunity for the domain name industry to lock-in self-regulation at a critical point in its evolution. more»

New gTLDs: Money Maker

There are fascinating ideas about how, when and more than everything: who is going to earn money from gTLDs? I think back-end registry providers will earn money, some applicants will earn money too but my experience launching Eurid, the registry for .EU, reminded me one thing: these days, just before launching, until the (first) Sunrise period is launched. more»

New Registry Agreement, All Good?

In the run-up to the launch of new gTLDs, ICANN has been negotiating both of its main supplier contracts. The registrar contract (Registrar Accreditation Agreement or RAA) negotiations are now all but complete. A new contract draft has been posted for public comment and it now seems likely that in little over a month, this will become the official new 2013 RAA. more»

Noncommercial Users Ask ICANN Board to Review Decision to Expand Trademark Rights in New Domains

ICANN's Non-Commercial Stakeholders Group (NCSG) has filed a Request for Reconsideration with ICANN's Board of Directors regarding the staff's decision to expand the scope of the trademark claims service beyond that provided by community consensus policy and in contradiction to ICANN Bylaws. Specifically at issue is ICANN staff's unilateral decision to adopt the "trademark +50" proposal for new domains, which would provide trademark holders who have previously won a UDRP or court decision with rights to 50 additional derivations of their trademark in ICANN's Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH). more»

Will the Trademark Clearinghouse Fulfill its Potential?

ICANN created the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) as a way to streamline the repetitive process forced on trademark owners during the launch of new top-level-domains. With the expected tsunami of hundreds of new TLD's starting later this year, the TMCH should generate a clear benefit for trademark owners who elect to participate in Sunrise and Claims Periods. The side effect of introducing new TLDs is that the legacy TLDs will be making changes to make sure they are competitive against the new TLDs. more»

Announcing the Final Terms of the First Applicant Auction for Contested gTLDs

We received several emails and phone calls with thoughtful comments on the proposed plan for the first Applicant Auction and have made several small changes to the plan. The final terms will be sent to applicants who requested the RFC, and can also be requested on our website. Here is a quick summary of the changes. more»

Wrap-up: ICANN 46 in Beijing

Earlier this April, the largest ICANN meeting ever -- more than 2,500 attendees -- kicked off in Beijing. Given the imminent addition of hundreds of "dot Brands" to the Internet, the topic of new gTLDs was at the top of the discussion list for all attendees. So far, well over 100 new gTLD applications have passed the Initial Evaluation stage, meaning they're on their way to becoming live domains. more»

gTLD Contention Auction in May: Request for Comments

Many gTLD applicants with strings in contention have already heard about the Applicant Auction, a voluntary private auction for resolving string contention that my colleagues and I are organizing. In this post we'd like to share some updates on our progress. Most importantly, we realized that more than just an escrow agent is needed for the success of a private auction of this scale, and we have partnered with Morrison & Foerster, LLP, a global law firm, who will be acting as the neutral party for our auctions. more»

Why Donuts Should Win All Wine New gTLD Applications

There are 2 reasons why Donuts, applicant for more than 300 Top-Level Domains, should become the official Registry for wine applications. It is not because of the content of its application: There are 3 applicants in total and all of them followed the rules provided by ICANN in its applicant guidebook. It is not because they protect the wine industry: the Applicant Guidebook did not "force" applicants to do so. It is not because they are American: there are also very good wines in Gibraltar and Ireland. In Gibraltar in particular... more»

What May Happen to GAC Advice? 3 Fearless Predictions

Many TLD applicants are likely to respond to the GAC Advice in a manner that is like story telling: Based on a mixture of fiction garnished with some facts from their applications, applicants will write savvy responses with only one aim -- to calm down the GAC's concerns and survive the GAC Advice storm. The "duck and cover" strategy... According to the Applicant Guidebook, material changes to applications need to go through a Change Request process. more»

Plural TLDs: Let's Stop Throwing Spanners in the Works!

I don't have strong religion on plural TLDs. For that matter, I don't have strong feelings for or against closed generics either, an other new gTLD issue that has recently been discussed even though it is not mentioned in the rules new gTLD applicants had to rely on. What I do care about is predictability of process. Yet, as Beijing showed, the ICANN community has an uncanny ability to throw last-minute wrenches at its own Great Matter, as Cardinal Wolsey called Henry VIII's plan to divorce Catherine of Aragon. more»

Horse's Head in a Trademark Owner's Bed

Recently, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) unveiled its Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH), a tool it proposes will help fight trademark infringement relating to another of its new programs - generic top level domain (gTLD). As Lafeber describes, criticism of ICANN's gTLD program and subsequent TMCH database is mounting. Skeptics have noted that given the significant cost of registering a gTLD - the application fee is $185,000 and subsequent annual fees are $25,000 - the program appears to be solely a cash cow, without adding much value to Internet users. more»

News Briefs

Google Adopts 'Palestine' Label for the Region's Search Page

ICANN Releases 5th Round of Initial Evaluation Results - 169 TLDs Pass

Fourth Round of Initial Evaluation Results for New TLDs

SPECIAL: Updates from the ICANN Meetings in Beijing

Third Round of Evaluation Results for New TLDs

NCUC Workshop: One World, One Internet? New gTLDs & Competition in a Changing Global Environment

Second Round of Initial Evaluations for New gTLDs

ICANN Launches the Trademark Clearinghouse Amid gTLD Expansion

ICANN Releases Initial Evaluation Results for First Set of New gTLD Applications

Internal-Use SSL Certificates a Security Risk for Upcoming New gTLDs, ICANN Warns

NTIA Asks New gTLD Applicants to Submit Public Interest Commitments

First TLDs to be Recommended for Delegation on April 23, 2013

ICANN CEO: "We Will Not Change our Timeline"

The Digital Marketing & gTLD Strategy Congress Announces Keynote, Speakers, Initial Partnerships

FTC Chief Concerned Over Most New gTLD Bids

5 Million Domain Names Registered in Q3 of 2012, Total Domains Pass 246 Million Worldwide

ICANN Board Starts New Initiative to Tackle gTLD Registration Data Challenges

ICANN Asked by Demand Media to "Ignore" Complaints from US Republican Party for the .republican gTLD

Government May Not Renew Contract, Says Verisign

ICANN Sued by Original .web Applicant

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Minds + Machines Updates – Sponsor

gTLD Update: No TLDH or Client Strings Affected

The Board of TLDH (AIM: TLDH.L) announces that ICANN's String Similarity Panel has determined none of the strings for which it is the sole applicant will be placed in contention sets with other strings. ›››

gTLD Auction Funding

Top Level Domain Holdings Limited, the parent company of Minds + Machines, has signed a funding agreement that will help it compete for a specific string at auction in exchange for a share of revenue if it wins it. ›››

gTLD Update: Results of the Prioritization Draw

Three of TLDH's five geographical top-level domains in the top third of draw -- .London, .budapest, and .nrw; Directors anticipate a significant number of its applied-for strings, and those of its clients, to go live in 2013. ›››

ICANN Prioritisation Draw, GAC Early Warnings

The Directors are pleased to announce that Minds + Machines received only a small number of early warnings with regard to its new generic top-level domain (gTLD) applications from members of the Government Advisory Committee (GAC) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ›››

Unaudited Interim Results for the Period Ended 30 April 2012

Top Level Domain Holdings Limited (AIM: TLDH.L) today announces its unaudited interim results for the 6 months ended 30 April 2012 (the "Period").
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gTLD Application Update: TLDH Has Submitted 92 Applications

The window to submit new generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) applications to ICANN closed on 30 May 2012. TLDH has submitted 92 applications in total on behalf of clients and its own account. In addition to geographical names, the Company's applications included the areas of sports, lifestyles, ecology, entertainment, culture and ethnicity and professions. ›››

Application Filed for DOT BUDAPEST

Top Level Domain Holdings Limited has applied to ICANN for the .BUDAPEST gTLD with the exclusive support of the City of Budapest. Should the application be successful, Top Level Domain Holding's wholly owned registry services company, Minds + Machines, will provide the back-end registry services for the proposed new domain. ›››

Industry Updates

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