No to "Closed Generic" gTLD Applications

["Jennings, Frank" <Frank.Jennings@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Sirs
 
As lawyer specialising in technology and the cloud sector, I regularly
advise cloud service providers and users. 
 
 From my discussions with providers and users alike - and in my own view
allowing one entity to run a closed a generic TLD such as .CLOUD would
create confusion and could distort the market. My cloud provider clients
would not be able to register a .CLOUD domain and would have to explain
to the market why, as a cloud company, they don't have a .CLOUD domain.
My cloud user clients might unfairly prefer a cloud provider simply
because it is the owner of a closed .CLOUD domain. 
 
The view of DMH Stallard is that allowing one commercial organisation to
turn a generic term, cloud, into a closed .CLOUD domain registration
scheme could be anti-competitive. A scheme which excludes the wider
cloud sector in favour of one organisation is unlikely to "promote
competition, consumer trust, and consumer choice" a key tenet of ICANN's
Affirmation of Commitments. 
 
A new .CLOUD domain should be managed by a not-for-profit registrar as
an open domain, allowing all those who operate in the cloud sector to
apply to register under the usual processes.
 
Yours faithfully
________________________________

Frank Jennings
Partner
For and on behalf of DMH Stallard LLP 
Tel: +44 (0)1293 605018 
Mobile: +44 (0)7841 065608
        
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