ICANN, Internet and the future Philip Sheppard, AIM - European Brands Association Names Council ICANN

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ICANN Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers  Numbers - interest to technocrats  Names - of interest to Intellectual Property (IP)

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Self-regulation - the players  Pipes and wires of the Internet  global registries, country registries, registrars, Internet Service Providers  Net users  business, non-commercial, intellectual property

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Key IP issues  Domain names and the potential for cybersquatting  So, need for accurate information (WHOIS)  So, need for dispute resolution (UDRP)  So, need for care in new domain names

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ICANN reform  After four years, time to review the structures and process  Agreed in Shanghai, November 2002  new by-laws  slimmer Board, some chosen by a nominating committee  new policy process  separation of generics and country-names

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New policy issues  Transfers and deletes of domain names- restrictive practices  Improving WHOIS data  Improving the UDRP  Internationalised domain names  New top-level domain names (gTLDs)

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New names - polarised debate  IP advocates shocked from .com cybersquating  Non-comms (freedom to name advocates) shocked from losing domains

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Common ground  IP objective =consumer confidence IP strategy = IPR priority  Non-comm objective = fair use Non-comms strategy = limit IPR priority Same objective from perspective of net user  Findability

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Proposal for differentiated names  .com, .info are unrestricted, unsponsored  .museum, .aero are restricted/sponsored  restricted to a set of users  sponsored by an enforcement body  Business wants all new names to be: 

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subject to six principles

Creating clarity - principles 1.Differentiation

– a gTLD must be clearly differentiated from all other gTLDs.

2.Certainty

– a gTLD must give the user confidence that it stands for what it purports to stand for.

3.Honesty

– a gTLD must avoid increasing opportunities for bad faith entities who wish to defraud users.

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Domain name principles 4. Competition – a gTLD must create value added competition.

5. Diversity – a gTLD must serve commercial or non-commercial users.

6. Meaning – a gTLD must have meaning to its relevant population of users.

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A directory of names  Restricted / sponsored and these six principles creates a taxonomy or directory for the domain name system.

 Solves 3 IP issues:  No possibility to cyber squat  No need/ability to defensively register  Accurate WHOIS

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Business needs YOU!

Business Constituency of DNSO  40 members, but 40,000 outreach  Join now Look at www.bizconst.org

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