RE: [pdp-pcceg-feb06] Draft minutes of the PDP Feb06 task force meeting in Marrakech 24 June

["Bruce Tonkin" <Bruce.Tonkin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> 
> David Maher stated that he had asked Marilyn Cade TTPC was 
> the only client beyond AT&T and Overstock that might have an 
> interest in the current PDP.
> 
> Marilyn Cade requested that her response be noted, and stated 
> that all the clients had been listed at the Brussels 
> meetings. TTPC was the travel partnership corporation, the 
> parent part of .travel where she managed an administrative 
> process. Marilyn's paid clients are: TTCP, Overstock.com, and 
> AT&T, Marilyn advises the IP alliance, but does not receive 
> payment and is only reimbursed for helping to plan and 
> moderate panels.
> 
> David Maher requested that an email summary of the response 
> be sent to the group.

I recall in the meeting that David asked for some information on some of
these organisations mentioned 
by Marilyn Cade.  It seems that this same question has been asked a few
times, so to hopefully finalise the discussion on this topic, I did some
basic Internet searches on the organisations above.


Regarding TTPC (The Travel Partnership Corporation)

From: http://www.ttpc.org/index.htm 

The Travel Partnership Corporation (TTPC), a Washington D.C. non-profit
corporation, has been formed to promote the addition to the Internet of
a new sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) to be known as .travel; and, to
recommend policies and practices concerning the eligibility to register
domain names in the .travel sTLD. 

The administrative process referred to above is the TTPC Domain Name
Denial Review Panel.
See: http://www.ttpc.org/denials.htm



The IP Alliance is not related to Intellectual Property, but to
something technical called the "Internet Protocol".   We don't hear much
about the Internet Protocol at ICANN unfortunately, although ICANN is
responsible for Internet Protocol addresses as well as Domain names.   I
would imagine that an observer of ICANN would assume that IP stood for
Intellectual Property.

So a search on the Internet reveals:

The Global IP Alliance (http://www.ipall.org/structure.html) is a
Not-for-Profit Corporation committed to advancing the goals of the
IP-enabled communications community (providers, vendors, investors,
innovators, users and other enthusiasts).  Members of the Global IP
Alliance include the spectrum of entities and organizations using,
building and deploying IP-based communications networks, services and
applications throughout the world.  Marilyn Cade is listed on their
website as a "Strategic Advisor".



AT&T (http://att.sbc.com/gen/investor-relations?pid=5711 )is the largest
telecommunications company in the United States and one of the largest
in the world.  
It is the global company that will set the industry standard for a new
era of integrated communications and entertainment services. Today, AT&T
has IP-based (Internet Protocol) network capabilities, assets, and
resources that are widely regarded as unsurpassed in the marketplace,
enabling the company to lead the industry in using the language of the
Internet to deliver innovative services that integrate voice, data and
video. The combined IP assets of AT&T will enable innovations that
neither the pre-merger SBC nor pre-merger AT&T could have accomplished
on its own.  
AT&T serves millions of customers around the globe, including global,
national, mid-size, regional and government customers. It delivers an
unsurpassed portfolio of traditional and IP-based voice, broadband
Internet, data transport, wireless and video services. It also offers
online and print directory publishing and advertising.  



Overstock
(http://investors.overstock.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=131091&p=irol-history )
In the spring of 1999, Dr. Patrick M. Byrne recognized the potential in
liquidating excess inventory through the Internet. Up until then,
consumers had relied upon far-off outlet centers with crowds and limited
product selections for finding bargains, and small retailers found
little access into the world of closeout merchandise. Meanwhile,
adoption of online shopping was skyrocketing. Patrick calculated that
while the Internet would prove inefficient at competing with normal
retail channels, it was tailor-made for liquidation due to the highly
fragmented and inefficient nature of the industry in the offline world.
Six months later and with no outside funding, the Overstock.com website
launched with the mission of being the premier company selling excess
inventory through the Internet. Founded on the principles of value
investing and fair dealing, Overstock.com has quickly become the on-line
leader in a market valued at $60 billion in the United States. Since
then, Overstock.com's gross bookings (previously called gross
merchandise sales or GMS) have blossomed from $1.8 million in 1999 to
$868 million in 2005.
The numbers of products Overstock.com offers has grown from less than
100 in 1999, to more than 62,000 non-BMV (Books, Music, Video and
Interactive Games) products and approximately 725,000 BMV products.
Overstock calculates that, since launching the site in October 1999,
Overstock.com has saved consumers millions of dollars off the retail
prices recommended by manufacturers.




With respect to Statements of Interest - I think the amount of
information above is far more than required to be provided by a
committee member, but can be easliy obtained for those that are curious.
If there is a specific area where a task force member believes there may
be a conflict that has not been disclosed, then I think it would be
appropriate for the member to first approach the relevant Council member
and ask about it.      If the answer is not satisfactory, then it is
probably best to have some evidence of a specific interest before trying
to take it further.  The member might approach the chair of a committee
with this evidence, and then finally as a last resort publish such
evidence for the information of the committee.   Note that having a
specific interest does not exclude participation in a GNSO committee,
but it does help build trust if all members disclose any potential areas
of interest as they become aware of them.

Regards,
Bruce Tonkin
Council member