auDA, the Australian registry, is considering some dramatic policy changes, one of which attempts to potentially devastate domain name investing in Australia. While auDA has never had domain name investment-friendly policies, these new proposed changes make things decidedly worse and threaten the very existence of investment in Australian domain names. The ICA views this as a threat to domain investing …

Domain owners rely on the UDRP to be implemented fairly and for transfers to be ordered only when there is clear evidence that the domain owner has violated the Policy. In an article published today on CircleID, ICA’s General Counsel, Zak Muscovitch, describes a mistaken approach adopted by some panelists in cases where the domain owner did not submit a …

In our newest article on CircleID, Zak Muscovitch asks: Is there a downside to misusing the UDRP to attempt a domain name hijacking? Read the full article on CircleID

On Friday, November 16th, ICA filed a letter addressed to Göran Marby regarding the .COM Registry Agreement, arguing that ICANN should reject any attempt by Verisign to increase its fees. Higher fees for Verisign are not justified, as demonstrated by the following four key points: a)  Verisign is a provider of technical registry services, it does not own the .com …

The ICA released a must-read statement on the price increase of .com domains earlier today! Shortly after the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)’s recent announcement allowing Verisign to pursue increased .com registry fees, Verisign published a blog post questioning the business practices of registrars and domain name investors. The ICA, on behalf of its registrar and domain name investor …

As the domain name community knows, the ICA has been warning of an impending price hike on .com domain name registrations. We publicized the issue, launched a website to increase awareness of the issue, created a petition that attracted over 2,000 signatures, and advocated for our position directly to David Redl, the head of NTIA, as well as to the Department …

The ICA is happy and proud to announce that we are now accepting nominations for ICA’s 2019 Lonnie Borck Memorial Award! Thanks to NamesCon’s generous support, for the 3rd year in the row, the award will be held during the conference. The Lonnie Borck Memorial Award is granted to an individual for indelible contribution to domain investor rights, and we invite you all …

In its letter to David Redl of the NTIA, the ICA urges that the NTIA extend Amendment 32 to the Cooperative Agreement between the Department of Commerce and Verisign, which is set to expire on November 30, 2018. Read the full letter, which was submitted on October 18th, 2018, here.    

In its letter submitted to the ICANN board on October 9th, 2018, ICA pointed out the absence of any ICANN oversight over the UDRP such as an office or staff, regular review process, complaints procedure, or contracts with existing UDRP dispute resolution service providers. ICA requests that ICANN includes a budget for such oversight in its current budgeting process. Read …

Guest post by Greg Thomas The shot clock is ticking towards expiration of the NTIA-Verisign Cooperative Agreement — yet stakeholders are AWOL on completing accountability safeguards at root of the Internet. It is remarkable — for all the wrong reasons — that only two months remain before the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) must make a fateful decision on how it will address its’ long-standing …