Internet Commerce Association - ICA

An article just published in Computeworld, “Domain-name wars: Rise of the cybersquatters” confirms ICA predictions that if brand owners are able to implement their unbalanced Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) policy for new gTLDs they will quickly move to use the same illicit, backdoor process to have it imposed on incumbent gTLDs -- including .com.

ICANN’s Sydney, Australia meeting kicked off to an official start on Monday, June 22. However, smaller pre-meeting sessions of its Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) policy-making body, as well as other parts of the multifaceted organization, began early on Saturday -- and ICA was in place then and speaking out on behalf of its members.

Do you have any plans for this Tuesday evening, June 16th? If you are the savvy domain investor that we think you are, then you’ll be taking part in the ICA Auction running from 4p.m. - 7p.m. EDT.

On April 21, 2009 the ICA filed a formal request with the ICANN Ombudsman requesting an investigation of our allegations that the Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT) established by ICANN to propose “solutions” for trademark owners at new gTLDs was a “constituent body” acting in violation of relevant ICANN Bylaws requiring the maximum feasible amount of transparency and fair procedures (click here for text of the original complaint).

On June 8, 2009 the ICA filed extensive comments with the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) urging that the Joint Project Agreement (JPA) between the U.S. government and ICANN not be allowed to expire on September 30th. The letter expresses ICA’s continued support for the four principles underlying ICANN’s creation as well as for its eventual full transition to an independent, private sector-led technical coordinator of the domain name system (DNS).

A judge for the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court's decision on Friday after hearing the appeal from plaintiff Coalition for ICANN Transparency (CFIT) and considering an amicus (friend of the court) brief submitted by the Internet Commerce Association (ICA. The district court had ruled against plaintiff in the original proceeding, finding that CFIT had failed to state a valid antitrust claim against VeriSign in relation to its role as registry for .COM domain names.

On Thursday, June 4th the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet held an oversight hearing on “Issues Concerning the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers”. The hearing was remarkable in a number of ways. First, given the technically arcane nature of its subject, the turnout was spectacular – more than half the Subcommittee’s members on a morning when other hearings competed for their attention, and a SRO crowd in the very large hearing room of the full Energy and Commerce Committee. Second, there was remarkable bipartisan agreement expressed, with Member sentiments falling on a continuum between extreme concern and “over our dead bodies” as regards the prospect of termination of the Joint Project Agreement (JPA) between the U.S. and ICANN on September 30th.

The Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT) created by ICANN’s Board to allow its Intellectual Property Constituency to propose “solutions” for whatever trademark threat they believe is posed by new gTLDs has issued its final report (available at http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/irt-final-report-trademark-protection-29may09-en.pdf). This proposal is now open to public comment until June 29th. Perhaps in preparation for the upcoming ICANN meeting in Sydney, where the seasons are reversed from the Northern Hemisphere perspective, the IRT has created a trademark owners’ wish list and asked ICANN to play Santa Claus.  The ICA will be in Sydney to point out that while Winter may start in Australia on June 21st Christmas is still half a year away -- and that Scrooge might be a preferable role model in regard to many of its recommendations

Washington, May 22, 2009 – The Internet Commerce Association (ICA) today announced that Thought Convergence, Inc. the owner and operator of the popular Domain Roundtable conference, taking place June 14-17 in Washington, DC, has graciously offered time during the Aftermarket.com premium domain auction to sell domains donated to the ICA by members and those wishing to support the advocacy group. The Aftermarket.com auction will be held during the conference on June 16th at 4p.m.EDT until 7p.m. EDT.

The final Report of the Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT) created by ICANN to propose trademark “solutions” for new gTLDs was due on Sunday, May 24th. We checked the IRT home page over the last three days but could find not find it, but did hear through the grapevine that it had been delayed.