Comment on the Defensive Applications for New gTLDs

[Patrick Vande Walle <patrick@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear ICANN,

I wish to comment, not on the substance, but on the process. 

You published the specifications for the new gTLD program with your
Request for Proposals dated 11 January 2012, and named "Applicant
Guidebook".
Now, I read that you could "take steps that could remediate and alleviate
the concerns on "defensive" gTLD applications". What you are saying here is
that you might change the specifications of the RFP while the call for
proposals is already open. 

Think for a moment what would happen if the FCC changed the specifications
for auctioning spectrum while the auction is already open. That would be a
major concern. 

Right now, there are companies who have designed a business model around
what is in the RFP. Based on that, they have made comittements to their
shareholders, bankers and community. If you told them now, or even worse,
after the closure of the submission window, that their application will
fail because you changed your mind on the specifications in the meantime,
be sure they will not thank you and seek redress for the damage to their
business. 

The current process may not be ideal. We all know it. Yet, this is what we
have. We should judge applications according to the criteria set in the
RFP. Whatever change may be beneficial, it should not apply to the first
round. Those changes should be part of the next RFP, for the second round
of applications.

Respectfully submitted,

Patrick Vande Walle