The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA), issued a press release today of its “recommendations” for ICANN, the US Congress and the NTIA for the new gTLD program, and its a pretty long wish list.
Here it is in full:
“”””For ICANN:
The ICANN Board should determine and announce when the next round of new gTLD applications will occur. A major source of anxiety that businesses feel around the New gTLD Program stems from fear that if they do not acquire their own new gTLD in this first round, they will be put at a disadvantage relative to their competitors, in the event those competitors apply and gain a theoretical advantage from owning gTLDs, for an unknown period of time. Announcing the date of a second round would go far towards alleviating this anxiety.
To lessen the financial burden on trademark owners and improve consumer protection, ICANN should consider including a requirement in the Applicant Guidebook that all new gTLD registries that choose to sell second-level domains to registrants adopt a low-cost, one-time block for trademark owners to protect their trademarks in perpetuity.
ICANN should consider adopting a pricing structure where a single applicant applying for multiple gTLDs pays a reduced rate for the subsequent gTLD applications, provided that the applicant has trademarks for those applied-for strings predating 2008, and that those strings are exact matches of their registered marks. Many businesses that choose to apply for their own gTLD will likely also feel they need to apply for other gTLDs, either in other languages or scripts, or for other vital business units.
ICANN should allow non-profit organizations that want to apply for their organizations’ names as gTLDs to qualify to participate in the Applicant Support Program, as described by the Joint Applicant Support Working Group (JAS WG) to lessen the financial burden on non-profits.
For the U.S. Congress:
The U.S. Congress should take much-needed action to improve the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) in order to provide stronger deterrents against cybersquatting, both in existing gTLDs and any new ones that are created.
For the NTIA:
If ICANN is awarded the new IANA contract following its expiration in March 2012, its structure and policy development process should also be subject to an audit. To ensure that this is done, the contract should be renewed for a short period of time, perhaps only two years. During this time, there should be an evaluation of whether ICANN followed through on its commitments with regard to the gTLD process, and extension of the contract should be contingent on conducting internal reforms to improve governance and transparency.
In addition to presenting these suggestions at the meeting with Assistant Secretary Strickling, CADNA delivered the same suggestions in a letter to ICANN, which includes further details on each of these recommendations.”””
CADNA hopes that its recommendations are as well received by ICANN as they were during the meeting with the NTIA, and looks forward to working with ICANN to implement the suggested changes.
Traffic DOWN 59% in one year - OUCH! says
The gTLD program will likely run into congressional hurdles once this CADNA/ICANN impasse gets worked out. No way I’d send $185,000 to this organization until Congress is done with them.
Ron says
It is a huge trademark headache so a few can get rich off this, this is 5 years out still.
Elliot Silver says
@ Anonymous Troll
I think TechCrunch put it best: “If You Cite Compete Or Alexa For Anything Besides Making Fun Of Them, You’re A Moron.”
I am very happy to share my traffic numbers (up at least 26%)
http://www.elliotsblog.com/2011-blog-traffic-up-26-7933
Shane Cultra says
@Elliot. Did you not get someone a present this holiday? Looks like someone is mad at you. And Compete is absolutely worthless data. Have no idea why anyone would use them.
Jason Thompson says
Hey where did the anonymous troll go? Looks like he disappeared from this thread. 🙂
Michael H. Berkens says
Don’t know
I didn’t delete it