DOT CLOUD and closed gTLD are anti-competitive

["Alex Hilton" <alex.hilton@xxxxxxxx>]

Dear Sirs

The Federation Against Software Theft is a not-for-profit industry body
that for the last 30 years has represented many well-known IT software
vendors and publishers in the IT industry.   Our focus, on behalf of our
members, is the appreciation and protection their intellectual property
assets that they have invested significant resources developing over
many years.  

 

With the interest of our members at the forefront, FAST's view is that
the proposed closed registry for all gTLDs, is anti-competitive and will
stifle innovation in the IT market, but most particularly in the IT
Cloud market which is still immature and developing.  

 

Many of our members are building their Cloud IT practices and this will
act as a brake on the development of their own market opportunities that
they have spent a lot of time and money developing and launching.   Any
generic term or word (such as .CLOUD) should not, in our opinion, be
exclusively available to any one organisation or vendor as it will
create an unfair competitive landscape giving the incorrect impression
that any one vendor is the sole and legitimate provider of Cloud
services - we believe this to be an unfair and biased market position
that can be prevented.

 

Undoubtedly this same argument can be applied to many other industries
and we strongly urge ICANN to prevent this closed registry being
implemented. 

 

Sincerely

Alex Hilton
Chief Executive
Federation Against Software Theft 
  
Phone: 01628 640060
DDI: 01628 640067
Mobile: 07802 881458
Email: alex.hilton@xxxxxxxx <mailto:alex.hilton@xxxxxxxx> 
www.fast.org <http://www.fast.org> 

Federation Against Software Theft - Limited by guarantee. Registered
Number: 1821298 (England). Registered office: York House, 18 York Road,
Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 1SF