The ICA is an international member of ICANN’s Business Constituency. On January 26, 2009 the BC adopted a position regarding ICANN’s draft application guidelines for new gTLDs by a vote of 46-8, with 11 abstentions; overall, 30 members of the BC, representing 63% of its total membership, voted on this matter. The ICA cast a No vote on the BC …
WIPO Decision to Strip Owner of RAI.MOBI Causes Concern for Domain Owners
The Complainant, RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana S.p.A. of Italy, filed a complaint with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center in connection with the domain rai.mobi. The Complainant alleged that in registering the domain rai.mobi the Respondent, Netwizzy Company S.L of Spain, infringed on the Complainant’s trademarks which incorporate the letters “RAI” to which the Complainant is widely recognized. The Complainant stated …
Congressional Internet Caucus Event Focuses on ICANN’s Future
On Wednesday, January 13, 2009 the Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus held its annual “State of the Net Conference”. This event, attended by hundreds, brings together members of Congress and their staff, regulatory agency personnel, lawyers and lobbyists, public interest groups and think tanks, and others interested in technology policy – and often serves as a jumping off …
Kentucky Domain Seizure Overturned by Kentucky Court of Appeals
The Kentucky Governor’s office wasted little time Wednesday, appealing Tuesday’s decision by the Court of Appeals that domain names are not gambling devices under the meaning of the state law cited as the justification for the state’s seizure of 141 domain names. By overturning the decision of the lower court, the Court of Appeals rejected the Governor’s attempts to extend …
Internet Commerce Association – 2008 Annual Report
As the year comes to a close I’m happy to announce the release of the Internet Commerce Association’s 2008 Annual Report. The ICA has been very active in the last year and this 11-page PDF report highlights the growth of our membership since our founding two years ago and provides a summary of ICA activities and outreach over the past …
ICA Amicus Brief Accepted by Court in CFIT Case
It has been a long wait, but the court hearing the suit brought by CFIT against VeriSign accepted ICA’s amicus brief. Bret Faucet, representing CFIT in this case, thanked ICA for its contribution to the case. CFIT is trying to try to get the court to reverse the decision by ICANN to award the .com contract to VeriSign without any …
ICANN New TLD Policies
How they cause new risk for your .com portfolio ICA encourages domain name owners to comment on the new gTLD implementation guidebook before the December 15th deadline. The biggest issue alarming many domain owners is the possibility that price controls will be completely removed for .com and other existing gTLDs. This could enable VeriSign to implement variable pricing for .com …
Registrar sues auDA for deleting domain name
Domain Directors, and its associated company, Instra Corporation, an auDA and ICANN accredited registrar, is continuing with its litigation against auDA. The Supreme Court of Queensland today set down this litigation for trial for 2 February 2009. In November, Domain Directors, an auDA and ICANN accredited registrar, commenced legal proceedings against auDA, the Australian domain name policy and regulatory body. …
TRAFFIC Down Under
Fabulous and TRAFFIC partnered to host TRAFFIC Down Under in Gold Coast, Australia this week. This conference brought in a large number of domainers from Australia. It was good to see new faces in an international industry conference. I am not sure how Fabulous pulled off its brilliant weather strategy, but it worked perfectly. Attendees were lured to the beautiful …
Abusive domain name tasting drastically reduced
ICANN reported on November 13th that Add/Delete Grace Period (AGP) deletes are down by 84%. The bulk of AGP deletes have historically been associated with the practice of domain name tasting. While opinions in the ICANN community differed on the actual impact of domain tasting, the Internet Commerce Association was a leader in calling upon ICANN to impose its registration fee as …