Registrar Constituency Position on IRT Final Report
July 6, 2009
Registrar Constituency Position on IRT Final Report Regarding Trademark
Protection Issues
BACKGROUND
In June 2009, the Registrar Constituency ("RC") was asked to provide feedback
regarding the Implementation Recommendation Team's Final Report on Trademark
Protection Issues ("IRT Report"). This Position Paper captures the overall
sentiment expressed by the RC Members who provided feedback about this matter.
Due to time constraints, however, no formal vote regarding this Position Paper
was taken.
RC POSITION
The RC supports the timely introduction of new gTLDs. The RC believes the
introduction of new gTLDs will have a positive effect on the ICANN community.
The RC recognizes, however, that trademark concerns exist with respect to their
introduction and it appreciates the tremendous amount of work that the IRT has
done in attempting to address these concerns.
The RC supports the spirit of the IRT. Individual RC Members, however, have
expressed concern regarding some of the proposed protection mechanisms in the
IRT Report. Because these concerns are somewhat varied among registrars, RC
Members intend to submit comments individually.
Additionally, some RC Members have expressed concern regarding the process used
in developing the IRT Report. Notwithstanding the IRT's good faith intentions,
these RC Members believe that the process employed in developing the IRT Report
is not consistent with the bottom-up consensus process to which ICANN is
committed. These RC Members note that the IRT process, however well intended,
has taken a largely top-down approach.
CONCLUSION
The opinions expressed by the RC in this Position Paper should not be
interpreted to reflect the individual opinion of any particular RC member.
Attachment:
RC Position - IRT Final Report v1-2.pdf |