ICA Urges Deletion of $175,000 "Slush Fund" for URS Summits/Placeholders
The comments of the Internet Commerce Association in regard to ICANN's Proposed FY 2013 Budget are attached. The Executive Summary reads as follows: * ICA does not oppose funding for final implementation of the Trademark Clearinghouse but questions whether $438,000 is actually needed for this task, and therefore requests a more detailed explanation of how that figure was arrived at and what expenditures are contemplated. * ICA strenuously opposes the $175,000 allocated for URS "reconfiguration" as the contemplated process is vague and undefined, appears to represent the reopening of key URS policies through a non-standard mechanism rather than being mere technical implementation, will likely cause substantial delay in the opening of new gTLDs, and has been arrived at through closed staff consultation with a narrow group of trademark-related interests rather than open dialogue with a broad cross-section of community members interested in fair and effective implementation. This budget item should be struck in its entirety. * Given that ICANN will realize a net gain in assets of at least $31 million from the first round of the new gTLD program - and that the actual amount could be double or triple that conservative estimate - we believe that a PDP regarding the allocation and use of these substantial excess funds should be initiated during FY13. Sincerely, Philip S. Corwin, Founding Principal Virtualaw LLC 1155 F Street, NW Suite 1050 Washington, DC 20004 202-559-8597/Direct 202-559-8750/Fax 202-255-6172/cell Twitter: @VlawDC "Luck is the residue of design" -- Branch Rickey Attachment:
ICA-ICANN-Proposed_FY13_Budget-Comment-FINAL-052412.pdf |