CORE's pre-registrations were taken under the assumption that the IAHC plan would
be enacted. It was not.The firm in Singapore's claim is unsubstantiated. I strongly
doubt that those 1 million pre-registrations are genuine. And, again, they are free
to claim what they want. I would also point out that this company, which I'd not
even heard of until today, is infringing on Image Online Design's first and prior
use of .web. Finally, their expression of interest is not for the entirety of the
.web TLD, but simply for 2 SLDs underneath .web - namely, com.web and per.web. Both
of those names are registered with Image Online Design. I, personally, believe that
the current registrants might be interested in partnering with this Singapore company,
but that would be their choice.
Let me reiterate: The expression of interest by
this firm in Singapore, notwithstanding their infringement, is NOT for a TLD, but
for two second-level domains.
On the other hand, Image Online Design was specifically
directed by IANA to take registrations (note: not pre-registrations) and prove the
registry prior to its inclusion in the roots as per the Postel II draft.
Should
CORE apply and be approved for one of its five non-contested TLDs, I would support
that they are in a special situation where their pre-registrations should be included.
I would suggest that they be frozen now and verified through ICANN.
I would also
offer that Image Online Design would freeze .web registrations now and submit the
list to ICANN for inclusion when .web is approved.
Between the two, the case is
unique, and should be treated as such.
Christopher Ambler
Image Online Design,
Inc.