generic top level domains (gTLDs)

Driving in to Durban from the airport this morning, I caught my first glimpse of the Indian Ocean: endless, exotic, deep, and full of mystery, it stretched to the blue horizon. While the Indian Ocean is more beautiful, it seems like ICANN 47 will be just as endless, exotic, and deep. Only time will tell what ICANN 47 is full of.

Although ICANN 47 does not officially start until Monday, the weekend features a number of working meetings of various ICANN groups, and is the unofficial beginning of each ICANN meeting. I spent my day in the meeting of the GNSO Council. The GNSO (Generic Names Supporting Organization) is a multistakeholder group tasked with developing policy recommendations for the gTLD (generic Top Level Domain) system – the domains we know and love (like .com, .net and .biz) and the domains yet to come (like .wtf, .sucks and .cool). The GNSO Council consists of representatives from each of the stakeholder groups that make up the GNSO.
Continue Reading Dispatch from Durban #1: ICANN 47 Day 1 (or is it Day -2?)

ICANN (the organization that runs the domain name system of the Internet) will be meeting in Durban, South Africa starting tomorrow (June 13). ICANN claims to be in the final stages of its planned roll-out of more than 1300 new top level domains (the part of a domain name to the right of the dot). However, there are serious concerns that the new gTLD program is not ready for prime time. Security and stability concerns abound. Features of the Trademark Clearinghouse are still in flux. ICANN has adopted certain items of “GAC Advice” (the GAC – the Government Advisory Committee – is the body through which governments provide input to ICANN), but much has been done hastily, as sort of a “bolt on.” Other elements of the GAC Advice are still under discussion between the ICANN Board and the GAC, and will doubtless be the subject of much energy in Durban. Implementation of the GAC Advice (beyond tacking a few paragraphs on to some agreements) is also a big question mark.

This promises to be an interesting meeting, and I am on my way there. As I write this, I am online in Amsterdam, waiting to board an 11-hour flight to Jo’burg, before heading on to Durban. Thankfully, you will not have to endure 15 to 30 hours of travel to see what’s going on in Durban. I will be posting a series of “Dispatches from Durban” with news from Durban, and analysis of how it will affect brandowners, consumers and the world we live in.

Until then….

Greg Shatan
Continue Reading ICANN goes to Durban (and you can too)

Over the last few years, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”) has continued to press forward with its efforts to increase the number of generic top-level domains (“gTLDs”). Although ICANN believes this expansion will increase competition and choice in the domain name space, various groups, including advertisers, have lingering concerns that the expansion will further erode Internet security and force them to incur significant expenses to protect their brands. In an attempt to address these concerns, ICANN has implemented a limited number of protection mechanisms. However, these protection mechanisms are only available to those who register their mark(s) in the Trademark Clearinghouse, a global repository of trademark data that launched on March 26, 2013. Thus, in the midst of an expansion that is already riddled with uncertainties, brand owners are now faced with the difficult task of trying to assess the value of ICANN’s unproven protections, and determining which marks, if any, are worth registering in the Trademark Clearinghouse.
Continue Reading A Prerequisite for Protection – ICANN’s “Trademark Clearinghouse”

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

Today, in a letter to Mr. Rod Beckstrom, President, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) detailed major flaws in the proposed ICANN program that would permit applicants to claim virtually any word, generic or branded, as Internet top-level domains once the application window is opened in January

We have written quite extensively over the last several months about the developments brewing within the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to change the current domain name system. In short, companies and organizations located anywhere in the world will soon be able to register and operate a gTLD that corresponds to just about

The domain name system is now poised to change dramatically based on a highly controversial proposal for new generic top level domains (gTLDs) approved initially in 2008 by the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the not-for-profit organization responsible for coordinating the Internet addressing system. Currently, the domain name system is limited to