There cannot be any automatic "complete defense" against objection
The Draft Applicant Guidebook Version 2, under heading "3.4.4 Community Objection", subheading "Defenses", still contains the following paragraph (page 3-19 in draft-rfp-redline-18feb09-en.pdf): "Defenses â Satisfaction of the standing requirements for filing a Community Objection (refer to paragraph 3.1.2.4) by the applicant is a complete defense to an objection filed on community grounds." The entire paragraph must be removed. Maintaining such a rule is tantamount to declaring that Recommendation 20 (in http://gnso.icann.org/issues/new-gtlds/pdp-dec05-fr-parta-08aug07.htm1) is void when TLD applicant itself has standing to object on community grounds. Such a "complete defense" clause means that ICANN, from the outside, imposes some sort of infallibility dogma on the community, declaring that certain organizations of that community are immune against opposition from within the community. Werner Staub |