Working Group B specifically rejected a proposal for a sunrise period in which Famous
Marks would be allowed first crack at names in a new TLD.For that reason I was
somewhat surprised in May to see the Names Council's summary of the WG-B report,
in which they gave a convoluted nod to the idea of start-up protection. As
quoted in the Yokohama agenda --on which the ICANN staff did an impressive job --
"...the Names Council ... recommended that there be varying degrees of protection
for intellectual property during the startup phase of new top-level domains."
This
statement seriously distorts what WG-B said. The NC basically grafted its own
wishes onto that of the Working Group, having failed to obtain the result it wanted
from the group.
I served on -- or tried to -- Working Group B until the dominant
forces of big business and intellectual property law all but made individual participation
impossible. This was not a bottom-up enterprise at all, but a solidly top-down
affair that mimicked the functioning of the best-oiled trade associations.
ICANN
is supposed to be representative and inclusive. The Board should take action to investigate
whether and why the Names Council's recommendation in this matter ignored the recommendations
of the members.