Directly impacting the operations of European companies, the prospect of new TLDs being authorized by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is being challenged. Today, in a letter to Mr. Rod Beckstrom, ICANN President, the ANA (Association of National Advertisers), the U.S. based trade association that represents over 400 international brands, detailed major flaws in the proposed ICANN program that could give rise to virtually any word, generic or branded, becoming Internet top-level domains (TLDs). By ICANN’s own estimates, its program could mean 300 new TLDs in the first year alone with authorization for up to 1,000 in each following year. The ANA argues that the program is economically unsupportable and likely to cause irreparable harm and damage to the Internet business community in general. By means of this letter, the ANA with the assistance of Reed Smith, kick starts a serious effort to prevent billions of dollars of harm to brand owners around the world and return ICANN back to the negotiating table by any means necessary.
To learn more about generic top-level domains, read Reed Smith’s Client Alert.