ICA Blog

VeriSign’s future ability to increase pricing for .Com domains has suddenly become uncertain after the company announced on October 25th that the renewal registry operations contract that has already been approved by ICANN’s Board of Directors is undergoing extended review by the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Justice. VeriSign CEO Jim Bizdos told analysts: “We have concluded that the Commerce …

Rather than being considered for implementation at the .com and .net registries through the front door of UDRP reform, Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) could arrive at these registries in advance of that reform through the backdoor of ending registry-registrar separation. That’s the major import of a resolution adopted by ICANN’s Board on October 18th in Toronto, reading, “Resolved (2012.10.18.01), the …

At the ICANN 45 meeting taking place in Toronto, an extensive list of proposed alterations of the rights protection measures (RPMs) for new gTLDs was presented to ICANN’s Board at a morning meeting on Tuesday, November 16th with ICANN’s Commercial Stakeholder Group.  The list represents a general consensus between the Business and Intellectual Property Constituencies (BC & IPC) — while …

As the fall of 2012 begins the implementation of rights protection mechanisms (RPMs) for new gTLDs is reaching a critical stage – The Trademark Clearinghouse (TMC) is far along to detailed implementation but certain aspects are now being reconsidered as registries, registrars, and other parties raise issues of practicality and workability. Implementation of Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) is finally commencing …

On the eve of ICANN’s 45th public meeting in Toronto — the last such meeting for the next half year until the April 2013 Beijing event — the United States government has urged ICANN to consider adding new trademark protections at .com and other incumbent gTLDs, and to adopt a Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) model that includes a default judgment …

On Wednesday, October 3rd ICANN held a ninety-minute webinar on implementation of the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) rights protection mechanism (RPM) for new gTLDs.  More than a hundred individuals participated. In response to a question posed by ICA Counsel Philip Corwin, ICANN executive Kurt Pritz stated that ICANN was looking to the current UDRP model, in which ICANN accredits arbitration …

ICA Counsel Philip Corwin has been invited to speak at an all-day conference being convened by ICANN’s Noncommercial Users Constituency (NCUC) on Friday, October 12th. The event will take place at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel one day in advance of opening policy discussions at ICANN’s upcoming 45th public meeting in Toronto. The NCUC is the home for civil society …

On October 3rd, at 1500 UTC, ICANN will hold a publicly accessible webinar on the further development of the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) rights protection mechanism (RPM) for new gTLDs. The announcement of the webinar can be found at http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-6-24sep12-en.htm; those wishing to participate should send an e-mail to newgtldcommunications@icann.org to obtain call-in and web access details. URS is the …

  On September 24th ICANN issued a Request for Information (RFI) to solicit bids from potential Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) providers. The announcement can be found at http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-8-24sep12-en.htm and a link is provided to the RFI itself. Qualified arbitration providers have until November 20th to submit a response, and ICANN hopes to publish a list of selected providers by February …

Is it really less than a week ago that Melbourne IT (MIT) hosted a Washington, DC forum on “Trademarks and New gTLDs”? The calendar says that it was, but intervening events make the discussion that took place feel outdated already — given that the one item on which there was clear consensus among almost all event participants (ICANN moving forward …