Dot-P2P New gTLD Proposed But Unlikely to Get Up

In response to the US government issuing seizure orders last week against 82 domain names of commercial websites engaged in what the government described as the illegal sale and distribution of counterfeit goods and copyrighted works, a new gTLD proposal has been launched.

In response to the US government issuing seizure orders last week against 82 domain names of commercial websites engaged in what the government described as the illegal sale and distribution of counterfeit goods and copyrighted works, a new gTLD proposal has been launched.The new proposal, Dot-P2P has been “formed to develop and promulgate an alternative domain name system that the proposers hope will ensure it is immune to action by the US or other governments.”While the domain name seizures may have ulterior motives, likely to be linked to a bill introduced by US Senators Leahy (D-VT) and Hatch (R-UT) in September called the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA), it is hard to see how the proposal will be approved.It would be assumed that copyright holders across a wide range of industries such as music, film and television would object to any proposal.One of the “grounds for objection” in ICANN’s Draft Applicant Guidebook for prospective new gTLD applicants is “Community Objection.” This is where “there is substantial opposition to the gTLD application from a significant portion of the community to which the gTLD string may be explicitly or implicitly targeted.”Another grounds for objection to a .P2P proposal could be “Limited Public Interest Objection.” Grounds for objection under this would be “whether the applied-for gTLD string is contrary to general principles of international law for morality and public order.”The DAG goes on to say “the grounds upon which an applied-for gTLD string may be considered contrary to generally accepted legal norms relating to morality and public order that are recognised under principles of international law are … A determination that an applied-for gTLD string would be contrary to specific principles of international law as reflected in relevant international instruments of law.”