Comments from Chuck Warren re single letter proposal from Afilias

[Marilyn Cade <mscade@xxxxxxx>]

To:             ICANN

Date:   March 20, 2010







Re:  .info - 1 and 2 character proposal:  Allocation of .info single  
letter names at the second level


 I am pleased to see Afilias propose the allocation of single  
character second level domain names in .info, through the registry  
services evaluation process.  My comments will focus on this aspect of  
the full proposal that Afilias has made.


ICANN has previously approved similar requests from 7 registries,  
including .name; .cat; .jobs; .coop; .mobi; .biz; .pro.


My comments support  the allocation of single letters.  I am pleased  
to see that that the approach proposed by the registry appears, to the  
best of my knowledge, to follow the recommendations of ICANN's GNSO  
Reserved Names Working Group.Overstock has indicated its interest in  
registering and using the single letter - O - in its online identify  
and operations, just as it does in itsmarketing and business  
advertising of its core business.  .info’s proposal will enable  
Overstock to participate in the proposed RFP process to propose a  
specific plan for use and promotion of “o.info”.


Overstock has stated its support the allocation of single letters by  
the various registries, with the understanding that by applying for  
the allocation of and using a single letter in any gTLD registry, this  
cannot preclude a party from seeking to use a single letter associated  
with their trade/brand name in a different gTLD or ccTLD. In today's  
environment, companies often develop unique website or web pages for  
different parts of their business, by registering and using consistent  
identities/ or domain names in multiple gTLDs and ccTLDs. The  
consistency of identity is a primary issue to brands that have global  
identity, such as Overstock. With the understanding that co-existence  
of registration and use in more than one single letter/gTLD is  
allowed, as it exists today for other second levelregistrations, I  
support the Afilias proposal for moving ahead with allocation of  
single letters in the manner they have proposed.






Chuck Warren