ICANN Updates

ICANN’s 34th International public meeting in Mexico City has drawn to a close after the organization’s Board of Directors approved the establishment by staff of an Implementation  Recommendation Team (IRT) comprised of an internationally diverse group of  people to develop and propose solutions to the over-arching issue of trademark protection in connection with the introduction of new generic top level domain  names (gTLDs).

An important element of ICANN’s consideration of the introduction of new gTLDs is consumer benefit as well as pricing issues.

ICANN commissioned an independent third-party report and retained Dennis Carlton, who is a Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago and who, from 2006 to 2008, was the highest-ranking economist in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Professor Carlton has prepared two preliminary reports relating to the introduction of new gTLDs.

ICANN is soliciting Expressions of Interest from firms interested in and capable of performing any number of independent evaluation roles as part of the new gTLD process. These entities, to be retained by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), will provide independent evaluation services, evaluating applications for new top-level domains (gTLDs).