[gnso-rn-wg] Interest Statements from members of the Reserved Name Working Group
Dear All, The Statements of Interest below and attached have been received from: Alistair Dixon CBUC Marilyn Cade CBUC - attached Mike Rodenbaugh CBUC Neal Blear - CBUC Avri Doria - Nominating Committee appointee on Council Dan Goughtery - IPC Greg Shatan- IPC Lucila King - IPC Tamara Reznik - IPC Jon Nevett - Registrar Seth Jacoby - Registrar Tim uiz - Registrar Caroline Greer - Registries Chuck Gomes - Registries Michael Palage - RegistriesThe current status is that all the members subscribed to the working group have provided Interest Statements.
Reserved Names Working Group Interest Statement for Alistair Dixon
I am a Regulatory and Industry Advisor for TelstraClear, a New
Zealand-based wholly owned subsidiary of Telstra Corporation. My role
consists of providing advice and representing TelstraClear in its
interactions with the New Zealand Government and regulators.
TelstraClear is a full service telecommunications provider and operates
ISP businesses in New Zealand. TelstraClear is a registrar in the .nz
domain. TelstraClear's parent company Telstra Corporation is a
telecommunications provider that has businesses and customers throughout
the world though principally in the Asia-Pacific region. To the best of
my knowledge neither Telstra Corporation nor TelstraClear has an
interest in acquiring or using reserved names.
I have no employment, contract, financial interest or other business
relationship with ICANN, registries or registrars.
............................................................................
Interest Statement of NEAL BLAIR, January 29, 2007
I am the Vice President for Governmental Affairs for Capitol Strategies,
LLC, headquarter in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Capitol Strategies does governmental consulting for corporate clients in
all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. Territories. Among our
clients, we advise and represent Overstock.com. Overstock.com is a
retail marketing corporation that transacts all sales exclusively via
the Internet. Overstock.com is the parent company of WorldStock, a
corporation that markets the products of artisans from developing
nations exclusively on the Internet.
Overstock.com joined the business constituency because it is concerned
about the stability and security of the global Internet and supports
ICANN in its role in managing and coordinating the technical indicators
of the Internet.
Overstock.com is also interested in registering and using ‘o.com’,
which how it is operates in the physical world, as “O”. Overstock.com
has previously posted in detail regarding its interest registering
.o.com and has proposed a methodology that could contribute to the
financial stability of ICANN. While we have proposed one approach, we
understand and appreciate the bottom up policy development approach and
are interested in exploring better methods if they are developed.
However, in general, Overstock.com is interested in the stable operation
of the Internet, and in ICANN’s stability. There are a number of other
issues under discussion in this Working Group, including the role of
reserved names to deal with controversial top level names. On behalf of
Overstock.com, I do not have pre-conceived views on those issues and
look forward to examining the overall role of reserved names, at both
the top level and the second level.
...............................................................................
Mike Rodenbaugh - Commercial and Business Users Constituency
I am employed full-time by Yahoo! Inc., as Senior Legal Director. I
have been elected to the GNSO Council by the Commercial and Business
Users Constituency.
Yahoo! is a leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked
Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo!'s mission is to connect people
to their passions, their communities, and the world's knowledge. I
engage ICANN issues from Yahoo!'s perspective as a premier online brand
and diversified business, highly valuing the perspectives of our
customers, partners and users.
Yahoo! offers scores of different services to businesses and users,
linked from our Everything Yahoo! page
(http://docs.yahoo.com/docs/family/more/), and from our Yahoo!
International page (http://world.yahoo.com) . Yahoo! resells domain
name registration services via Yahoo! Small Business, as one feature of
many communication, marketing and merchant solutions we offer to
businesses (http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com).
We are interested in seeing all of these businesses succeed and grow.
These businesses work with Yahoo! because we have earned one of the
world's largest audiences, requiring that the 'user perspective' remain
extremely important to us always. And, of course Yahoo! is a famous
brand that is extremely challenging to protect and enforce online,
worldwide.
I believe businesses of all types and sizes share our interest in the
rapid growth of internet commerce, balanced with fair protection of
existing property interests. I look forward to working with the Council
to address the many serious issues that existing businesses encounter as
a result of ICANN policy. .
..............................................................................
Interest Statement of Avri Doria
http://psg.com/~avri/icann-stmt-interest.html
I am an independent research consultant and have no employment,
contract, financial interest, share ownership or any other business
relationship with ICANN, registries or registrars except as a holder,
and fee payer, of several domain names in .com, .net and .org.
As part of my volunteer activities I have spoken to and given advise to
various representatives of indigenous nomadic and semi-nomadic
populations on the topic of obtaining an TLD.
..............................................................................
DAN DOUGHERTY
As this working group has previously been made aware, Yahoo! Inc. is
interested in the release of reserved, single letter domain names.
Yahoo!'s position is detailed at:
http://www.icann.org/correspondence/filo-to-icann-12dec05.pdf).
..............................................................................
Statement of Interest for Gregory S. Shatan
Intellectual Property Constituency
I am a Partner with Reed Smith LLP (“Reed Smith”), a general practice
law firm with approximately 1400 lawyers. I am resident in Reed Smith’s
New York, NY office and am a member of the New York bar.
I spend a significant amount of time on Internet and trademark matters,
and often represent trademark owner clients in connection with such
matters. My responsibilities include developing and implementing domain
name registration, Internet monitoring, and enforcement strategies, and
reclaiming domain names through negotiation and arbitration. From time
to time, I register or acquire in my own name domain names for firm
clients. I am currently the registrant of several domain names, both on
behalf of firm clients and in an individual capacity.
Since 2004, I have been a member of the Registration Practice and DNS
Administration Subcommittee of the International Trademark Association’s
Internet Committee.
To the best of my knowledge, Reed Smith does not represent ICANN, any
TLD registry or any registrar, nor does it represent parties in any
matters adverse to such entities. From time to time, Reed Smith has
represented firm clients in intellectual property matters adverse to
registrars, and it is likely to do so periodically in the future. I have
not been directly involved in such matters.
..............................................................................
LUCILA KING
As an IP trademark attorney, it is a great pleasure for me to
participate in the GNSO Reserved Names Working Group.
At present time I am working as an independent IP consultant for the
Argentine Trademark Agent Association ( www.aaapi.org.ar). I represent
the AIPPI, member of the IP Constituency (IPC).
For the past ten years I worked as an associate in the Trademark
department with Marval O'Farrell & Mairal, Buenos Aires, Argentina (
www.marval.com.ar ). Besides dealing with regular trademark prosecution,
I gain a strong expertise in the management of companies'domain names
portfolios at ccTLD "ar" and gTLD. I also assisted local and foreing
companies –as well as registrars- with the recovering of the domain
names unlawfully registered with the ccTLD "ar" and in some cases
registered in the gTLDs.
The ccTLD "ar" is under the management of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (because it was historically the first argentine organization
connected to the Internet in 1995).
Nic-Argentina currently grants domain names free of charge –we expect
this to change soon- and as far as I know it is the only country manager
who proceeds in such a way. Under the ccTLD there are no "Reserved
Names categories" except from those that are confusingly similar to the
names of Argentine governametal institutions. Of course, given the
mentioned conditions the ccTLD "ar" is plenty of abusive registration cases.
I am very interested with the possibility of participating in the
Reserved Names Working Group since I will have the opportunity to
witness the on going process that will realese "reserved names" at the
"first (top) second and thrid level"(*) and particularly, the way in
which the existing prior rights of trademark owners, country names and
IGO will be recognized and protected from abusive registrations.
I believe that my working experience on these matters might be useful
for the Group. Having worked with an "unrestricted" registrar such as
NIC-Argentina and considering the example given by the realese of .biz
and .info, I strongly believe that if prior rights of the trademark
owners and the communities with "legitimate interest" in a particular
string or reserved domain name are not carefully attended, they will
face the difficulties and disbursements of registering domain names only
for defensive purposes.
I look forward to working with you all.
(*) From the transcript of the first meeting of the WG, I understand
that at this stage it will only be discussed the realese of "reserved
names" at the second and thrid level only. A further working group will
discuss the realease of reserved names and any other string that could
be proposed as first (top) level domain. And within such group a special
attention will be given to the controversial topic of Trademarks,
Country Names and IGO. I would very much appreciate your letting me
know if my understanding on this topic is accurate.
..............................................................................
Interest Statement of Tamara Reznik
I am Corporate Counsel for Expedia, Inc. and manage trademark and
domain name matters for all Expedia, Inc. companies, including
Hotels.com, TripAdvisor.com, Hotwire.com, ClassicVacations.com and
eLong.com.
I am a member of the Registration Practice and DNS Administration Subcommittee of the International Trademark Association’s Internet Committee. I am interested in contributing to this Working Group mainly because I am interested in creating fair and equitable processes regarding the ownership of domain names and reserved names are a particularly interesting issue in that process. I am also interested in examining whether a reserved names list should contain terms approved as trademarks by the USPTO, and a fair manner of releasing those names if they are reserved. Our companies may benefit from the release of certain terms from reserved names lists, depending on the rules allocating the release of the domains. .............................................................................. Interest Statement of JON NEVETT for the GNSO Reserved Names Working Group February 1, 2007I am Vice President of Network Solutions, LLC, responsible for policy, government affairs, and business ethics. Network Solutions includes three ICANN accredited registrars, each of which may benefit from the possible release and registration of reserved names. The benefit, if any, will depend largely on the allocation process if the release of such names is approved. Network Solutions is a member of the Registrar Constituency (“RC”) of the GNSO. In May 2006, I was elected Chair of the RC. While I was not elected by the RC to serve on this Working Group, I am on the Executive Committee of the RC and have an obligation to present and discuss various RC members’ views to the Working Group as they are made known to me. Network Solutions also is a member of the United States Council for International Business (USCIB). The USCIB is a member of the Business Constituency of the GNSO. Our primary interest in the USCIB is the DNS and Internet Identifiers Working Group, of which I am Co-Chair. The USCIB includes members who will have an interest in the allocation of reserved names at the second level. The primary interest of Network Solutions, and I believe other registrars within the RC, is to examine how the potential release of single-letter second-level domain names might be used to provide funding to ICANN and reduce the funding burden on registrars. There are many other issues that this Working Group has been asked to consider. I have no pre-conceived opinions on those issues. ......................................................................... Interest Statement SETH JACOBY February 1, 2007 I am the Vice President of Search and Navigation for VendareNetblue which is the parent company of Basic Fusion, Inc. Basic Fusion is an ICANN accredited registrar and a member of the ICANN Registrars Constituency. VendareNetblue actively acquires strategic domain names, and in the event certain reserved domain names are released, VendareNetblue may have an interest in acquiring such names. VendareNetblue is also interested in how the potential sale of single letter domain names may be used to fund ICANN’s operations, and as a result, reduce the financial burden placed on registrars. Looking forward to working with you all. Seth Jacoby ......................................................................... Interest Statement of TIM RUIZ for the GNSO Reserved Names Working Group January 29, 2007 I am Vice President of Corporate Development and Policy for The Go Daddy Group, Inc. The Go Daddy Group companies include eight ICANN accredited registrars, each of which may benefit from the possible release and registration of reserved names. The benefit, if any, will depend largely on the allocation process if the release of such names is approved. GoDaddy.com, one of the Go Daddy Group registrars, is also in the process of becoming a member of the dotMOBI Advisory Group (MAG). I will represent GoDaddy.com on the MAG. The MAG, among other activities, is involved in recommending policy to mTLD, the dotMOBI Registry Operator. Such policy recommendations could involve issues around the release of reserved names. I do not have and, to my knowledge, the MAG does not have access to any registry proprietary information. GoDaddy.com is a member of, and I am CTO and Vice Chair of the Registrars’ Constituency of the GNSO. While I was not elected by the Constituency to serve on this Working Group, I am on the Executive Committee of the Constituency and feel an obligation to present and discuss various Constituency members’ views to the Working Group as they are made known to me. GoDaddy.com is also a member of the United States Council for International Business (USCIB). The USCIB is a member of the Business Constituency of the GNSO. Our primary interest in the USCIB is the DNS and Internet Identifiers Working Group. The USCIB and aforementioned Working Group include members who will have an interest in the allocation of reserved names at the second level. The primary interest of myself, the Go Daddy Group, and I believe other registrars within the Registrars’ Constituency, is to examine how the potential release of single-letter second-level domain names might be used to provide funding to ICANN and reduce the funding burden on registrars. There are many other issues that this Working Group has been asked to consider. I have no pre-conceived opinions on those issues and look forward to discussing, and no doubt debating, those issues within this group. ................................................................................. *** Interest Statement – Caroline Greer *** I am Policy Director for mTLD Ltd, the Registry responsible for the .mobi TLD. I participate in the gTLD Registry Constituency. dotMobi is the first top level domain dedicated to delivering the internet to the mobile phone. mTLD is sponsored by a consortium of thirteen companies, two of which (Nokia and Telefónica) are members of ICANN’s Business Constituency. dotMobi signed its contract with ICANN in July 2005 and began operations in May 2006. dotMobi is required to reserve certain names and these reserved names are identified in Appendix 6 of the .mobi Agreement. dotMobi also has ‘Premium Names’ listed in its Product List (Appendix S of the Agreement). These names are commonly used words and phrases that are allocated on an other than first-come-first-served basis and therefore must first be reserved by the Registry and held back from general allocation. dotMobi will allocate such names using auction and Request for Proposals (‘RFP’) processes, the latter of which centers on content suggestions from the market. The purpose of the RFP process in particular is to stimulate growth of the mobile internet market and help deliver new features and services to the mobile community. My personal interest in participating in the Reserved Names Working Group is to gain a better understanding of why certain categories of names are required to be reserved by ICANN. As a new TLD, we have received many related queries from Registrants. Any future decision by ICANN to lift such requirements could possibly result in the release of further names by dotMobi which would ultimately benefit the Registry. I look forward to working with everyone in the group. .................................................................................... Interest Statement from CHUCK GOMES for the GNSO RN-WG Revised: last paragraph in inverted commas added. 26 January 2007 I am Vice President of Policy and Compliance for VeriSign, Inc. VeriSign is the registry operator for the .com and the .net gTLDs and also provides backend registry services in support of Global Name Registry for the .name gTLD and Employ Media for the .jobs gTLD. VeriSign is also the registry operator for two ccTLDs, .cc for the Cocos and Keelings Islands and .tv for Tuvalu. As an employee who supports VeriSign’s naming services business, I do often have access to Registry Sensitive information including information about registrars. With regard to both our gTLD and ccTLD registration services businesses as well as other VeriSign businesses, our customers and business associates have interests in various ICANN policy issues and may be members of other GNSO constituencies and/or supporting organizations. In addition to registry agreements with ICANN for .com and .net, VeriSign also has obligations to the U.S. Department of Commerce through a cooperative agreement that was initiated in 1993 and has been amended many times since then. Those obligations include providing the A and J root servers as well as support to ICANN in implementing changes in the root zone file. As such, VeriSign is a member of the DNS Root Server System Advisory Committee and also works closely with IANA staff in the processing of root zone changes. As a representative elected to the GNSO Council by the unsponsored gTLD registry members of the gTLD Registry Constituency (RyC), I am required by the Constituency’s Articles of Operation to represent the views of those members and the full Constituency as applicable, not my own or VeriSign’s. In that regard, I will endeavor to always qualify any personal statements as such and will follow-up with the RyC to obtain their position. I own shares of VeriSign stock and hold options to purchase additional shares, but the amount of shares I currently own plus the potential shares I could possibly own if I exercised all options is a miniscule number relative to the total number of VeriSign shares. With regard to the topic of reserved names, I do not believe that either I or VeriSign have any particular interests that would create conflicts. "At the same time I should note that VeriSign could have interests with regard to any changes that might be recommended regarding reserved names for .com and .net including but not limited to any operational and/or cost impacts. " I do want to state though that in the past six to 12 months I have served as an unpaid volunteer working with several other volunteers to discuss the topic of single-letter second-level domain name reservations. .................................................................................... Interest Statement of Michael PalageI am currently a member of the following three GNSO Constituencies: the Business Constituency (BC); the Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC), and Registry Constituency. Within the BC I participate and vote on behalf of my consulting company. I also participate within the IPC as licensed attorney admitted to the bars of Pennsylvania and Florida, however, under the IPC charter I have no voting rights as an individual IP attorney. My involvement within the Registry Constituency is on behalf of dotCoop the registry operator of the .COOP sTLD for whom I serve as a consultant/advisor; however, Carolyn Hoover is the designated voting representative for dotCoop. My participation within this Working Group is on behalf of dotCoop that currently has various ICANN (single and two letter domain names) and non-ICANN (Coop Community Names, see http://www.coop/information.asp) reserved names designated within the .COOP registry database. DotCoop has an interest to ensure that these names are used in a constructive manner that directly benefits the cooperative community for which it represents. As previously discussion during our initial call, dotCoop has worked with ICANN in a proactive and productive roll to allocate at least one two-letter reserve name on behalf of a cooperative, see www.a2.coop. In addition, I current serve as a consultant to Afilias the registry operator of the .INFO TLD. In this capacity, I have overseen the allocation of reserved geographic names that were originally set aside in connection with ICANN Board Resolution 01-92. I previously served as a consultant to mTLD, the registry operator of the .MOBI TLD, in connection with the drafting and implementation of their Sunrise and Premium Name policies and procedures. I also provide consulting services to ccTLD operators, registrars, and other registration authorities on an as needed basis on a wide range of topics. I have also provided expert testimony in state and Federal court on behalf of various brand holders and law enforcement agencies in connection with domain name and internet related matters. Previously I served as the Chair of the Registrar Constituency from its inception in 1999 until 2003, when I served a three-year term on the ICANN Board of directors (2003-2006). ................................................................................. Glen de Saint Géry GNSO Secretariat - ICANN gnso.secretariat[at]gnso.icann.org http://gnso.icann.org Attachment:
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