New TLDs

The comment period for the 4th version of ICANN's Draft Applicant Guidebook for the new gTLD program closed yesterday (July 21).

Although as it stands, the DAG is nearly finished, a couple of grey areas remain. One is the issue of morality and public order (MAPO), and who should judge, according to what criteria. The other is about separation between registrars and registries.

It is INDOM's view that the strict separation requirements introduced in the DAGv4 are both unfair and anti-competitive. We said as much in the comment we sent to ICANN a few days ago. We are encouraged to see others (here and here for example) picking up on our comments and agreeing with them.

The final version of the guidebook is scheduled to be released before the next ICANN meeting (Cartagena in December). It is our hope that it will not contain rules that prohibit ICANN-accredited registrars from being involved, in any way whatsoever, in a TLD.

As we wrote in our comment to ICANN: "With the Guidebook as it is currently written, those with in-depth domain name expertise are excluded, except existing registries.  Entities without this expertise would be accepted.  This is akin to giving a license to provide medical services to anyone except doctors."

We posted our comments on the latest draft of the Applicant Guidebook for new gTLDs yesterday.

They can be read here.  For those who don't have time to go to the ICANN website to read them, here's an excerpt giving the general gist of what we said:

"We feel the forced exclusion of ICANN-accredited registrars from the new gTLD program is unfounded, detrimental to consumer and applicant choice and would lead incumbents in the registry market to enjoy unfair protectionism. It must not be implemented in the Final Guidebook."

In his presentation to ICANN's GAC (Government Advisory Committee), ICANN Senior Vice President Kurt Pritz indicated that root scaling and economic study issues were the main ones remaining to be solved before a final Applicant Guidebook could be published.

His presentation was made today in Brussels, in the run-up to ICANN's 38th international meeting which starts on Monday June 21. The GAC and the GNSO (Generic Names Supporting Organisation – the policy-making body for gTLDs) traditionally hold working sessions during the weekend before an ICANN meeting.

Pritz went on to say that if the aforementioned issues can be resolved in the coming months, the Board could be in a position to approve the final guidebook in December. Presumably, that would require the final guidebook to be published several weeks before the December ICANN meeting in Cartagena so that there would be time for public comment before the Board came to vote on it.

As anticipated, the latest draft of the ICANN new gTLD Applicant Guidebook was published a few hours ago.

The new DAG includes models for trademark protection such as the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) and the Trademark Clearinghouse (TM Clearinghouse). Other changes include a new proposal on registry-registrar separation for the registry agreement (the contract future registries will sign with ICANN), which is also the subject of ongoing work in the GNSO, ICANN's policy development body for generic TLDs (Top Level Domains).

DAGv4 will be at the centre of discussions in Brussels, from June 20 to 25, during ICANN's second international meeting of 2010.

The Icann rumour mill is on overdrive today as the fourth version of the Draft Applicant Guidebook for the new gTLD program is expected to be published at some point during the day.

This latest instalment of the rules a prospective new gTLD applicant would have to follow is greatly anticipated. Icann staff have claimed that this version should be considered as almost final, with only minor tweaks needed to transition to the definitive Applicant Guidebook due to be published in December 2010.

Proponents and opponents of new gTLDs therefore wait with baited breath for the DAGv4 to come out. The former to check that the program is indeed nearing conclusion while the latter are no doubt already looking opportunities to generate further delays.

If the rumours are right, we should know more in a few hours…

The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse has puzzled me for a long time. They claim to be "dedicated to ending the systemic domain name abuses that plague the Internet today". A very worthy cause on paper, except the CADNA people seem to be confusing constructive criticism with constant ranting.

Their latest is entitled "ICANN's gTLD launch costs businesses $746 million, increases cyber crime". What are these people on? And how do they get major brands to back their coalition's press releases?

Their pitch: new gTLDs will force businesses to defensively register, and therefore cost them. Never mind the fact that the ICANN community has been working for years now on refining a new gTLD program that incorporates powerful new brand protection measures. And so what if said program has been delayed time and time again precisely because the ICANN community, in a responsible and cautious approach, is making sure that it gets as many aspects of the new gTLD launch right as it can.

Innovation always means pushing the boundaries and leaping into the unknown. But the new gTLD program has been in preparation for years and it is being carefully thought out by many talented people. ICANN community volunteers within the GNSO (generic Names Supporting Organization) first drew out a set of recommendations. The ICANN Board (also volunteers) then approved them and asked ICANN Staff (also talented) to draft a model from them. The first iteration of that model came out in October 2008. The 4th is scheduled to be released this June. In between, there has been constant consultation, analysis and drafting. That is not haphazard experimentation. That is careful planning.

The Expression Of Interest (EOI) model was up for consideration at the ICANN Board's February 4th meeting, but ended up being pushed back until Nairobi.

ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee was amongst those calling for more time before any decision be taken on the EOI.

The proposed EOI model would make it compulsory for those wishing to apply for a new gTLD in the first round (currently expected to open in 2011). An EOI fee of USD 55,000 would be applied, and deducted from the USD 185,000 applicants would be required to pay in the first round.

During its February 4th meeting, the Board committed to an EOI decision at its next meeting, to be held in Nairobi in March.

Now here's a good idea. This site gives a list of new gTLD initiatives that are known to exist. You get the TLD itself, plus related web Facebook and Twitter pages. Not all the entries in this list are up to date, but in the fast moving world of new TLDs, that's hardly surprising and certainly not a major problem.

During the December 9 Board meeting, ICANN staff presented a revised project plan for completing the implementation of the new gTLD program. This is basically an updated roadmap leading up to the first application round, i.e. the start date when entities all over the world will be able to apply for their own Internet Top Level Domain.

This plan was summarised during yesterday's GNSO Council meeting. These are the major next steps expected by staff:

- A 4th version of the Draft Applicant Guidebook (DAG) will NOT be published in time for the next ICANN meeting (Nairobi, March 2010). However, significant excerpts of the DAGv4 will be, including items on trademark protection, post delegation dispute resolution, malicious conduct and the proposed registry agreement.

- A 4th DAG is expected to be published in time for ICANN's second international meeting of 2010 (Brussels, June). This should be very close to the final version.

- Following community discussion, a final version is expected to be published for the final meeting of next year (December, in Latin America (exact venue not determined yet)).

This means that the first round will likely not open until Q2 2011 at the earliest.

Although this is obviously unwelcome news for all those prospective applicants that have already been waiting for many years for the first round, this cloud does have a silver lining.

It is very likely that there will be some kind of Expression of Interest (EOI) system allowing applicants to "take their place in the queue" pending the full launch of the program with that first application round.

ICANN staff are working on a model already and will suggest that the EOI be made mandatory for all applicants. This means that even though the first round won't happen before 2011, applicants will still have to be ready to submit an EOI some time in 2010. Those that do will have taken an important first step towards their new gTLD.

However, before an EOI system can be implemented, at least two issues will have to be resolved. The first pertains to the 3 character minimum rule, which may be modified in some way. This has to be finalised as applicants need to know what they can apply for before submitting an EOI. There is also the registry/registrar vertical separation issue, as applicants need to know who (i.e. what type of entity) can apply.

The EOI, or Expressions Of Interest in the new gTLD program, took a step closer to reality during the ICANN Board meeting on December 9.

The Board directed staff to present a proposal for an EOI process model. This model is to be presented to the Board during its February 2010 meeting. If approved, the EOI would then be implemented.

Although some see the EOI as a sort of fast-track to applying for a new gTLD, others worry that asking staff to work on such a plan may take crucial resources away from the main work still to be done on the actual new gTLD program. But the Board obviously took the view that the EOI would be a good way of taking the new gTLD program forward.

Staff will no doubt work on the proposals that have already been made by an informal working group, of which I was a member as an observer. These include charging a submission fee of USD 55,000, making participation in the EOI mandatory for all prospective first-round applicants and publishing all the EOI received.

Deputy Mayor of Paris Jean-Louis Missika, sporting the official .PARIS badge, takes a look at the .PARIS support website. Photo INDOM.

Jean-Louis Missika discusses .PARIS with a few of the 1,000 guests attending the City of Paris event in the prestigious Paris town hall. Photo INDOM.

A .PARIS supporter signs the online form using one of the dedicated terminals set-up in the Paris town hall. Photo INDOM.

A special event was held last night in one of the Paris town hall's prestigious rooms to highlight the city's bid for a .PARIS TLD.

Organised as part of the Web09 show, a showcase for innovation on the Internet, the brought together over 1,000 people.

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë was in attendance and Deputy Mayor Jean-Louis Missika gave a speech, in English, on the .PARIS initiative.

Attendees were able to use specially set-up computer terminals to surf the dedicated .PARIS website and show their support for the TLD by signing the web form. Nearly 400 people have already signed.

INDOM is assisting the City of Paris on the .PARIS initiative and was one of the event's official partners.

Yesterday, the City of Paris launched a PR and communications campaign to garner community support for .PARIS.

A website (soon to be available in English on www.SupportDotParis.org) has been opened with a call for people to sign and show their support. Over the coming weeks, the site's content will be expanded with explanations of what .PARIS will be and who it will be aimed at.

Facebook and Twitter pages have also been opened to foster participation and discussion around .PARIS, a project for which INDOM is acting as consultant to the City of Paris.

A working group has been formed in response to the Seoul ICANN meeting Board resolution directing staff to "study the potential impact of a call for formal "expressions of interest," and provide a plan for Board consideration at ICANN's next Board meeting, in December 2009. The plan should include possible options and a risk analysis relating to the proposed action."

The group has published a draft charter and set itself an ambitious schedule in order to be able to bring before the Board a complete proposal for the implementation of an Expressions of Interest system and have it adopted by the next ICANN meeting in Seoul.

The draft charter includes a proposed working group timeline and a list of participants.

ICANN's 36th international meeting officially gets underway today (Monday October 26), but the weekend has already involved a lot of work for several members of the ICANN community.

The GNSO Council on which I sit, for example, had two full days of meetings on Saturday and Sunday. And although we've been very involved in our restructuring process and upcoming Chair elections, there seems to be a common thread throughout all the community discussions: new gTLDs.

Walk into the main conference area, and almost all booths are about new gTLDs: consultancy or technical services, new gTLD projects… Open up the bags that are given to each person who registers for the meeting and you'll find a lot of new gTLD oriented sales blurb. Without a doubt, a thriving industry has sprung up around new gTLDs.

But how long will that new industry last if ICANN is unable to give potential applicants a clear timetable for the start of the application process? Latest word is that there will be a 4th version of the Draft Applicant Guidebook (DAG). Kurt Pritz, ICANN's Senior Vice President, Services, told me that although the 3rd version that was published recently is almost complete, there is enough work remaining to warrant another draft before the final version comes out.

That could be in Q1 2010, meaning that the first round of applications could still be launched before the end of 2010.