Tag Archives: Beijing

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry, New gTLDs

Beijing Gets On Board With the Rest of China Allowing .VIP, .SHOP and .LTD In Boost To All 3

The Chinese market is one that requires lots of perseverance for the operators of TLDs wanting to offer their domain names to local customers. To get approval the registry operator must get approval from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) first, and then the local regional communications department of the region where the domain owner is based must also recognise the TLD.

To date Beijing, a market of 22 million people, has been the only holdout. But on 16 August MMX’s .vip was the first of three foreign new gTLDs, along with .shop and .ltd, to be recognised by the Beijing Communications Administration. .vip is the first new gTLD in the top 10 by registration numbers to gain this permission. The approval gives the 3 new gTLDs a significant competitive advantage in a region with an economy with a GDP of circa 2 trillion CNY and a rapidly developed start-up/SME business sector.

MMX management also believe this latest permission will further accelerate the transition of those domains originally bought by investors in 2016, before MIIT approval, into the hands of SMEs. Already China's leading search engine, Baidu.com, recognises over 705,000 individual .vip pages from 188,764 different .vip sites and the Company is aware of further initiatives that will directly contribute to this continued usage growth of the domain in the coming months.

From mid November 2017, MMX will also begin selling Chinese character (IDN) .vip names into the Chinese market.

Separately, the MIIT approval process continues to progress on track on up to a further eight TLDs in mmx's portfolio.

ICANN and Governance

ICANN Response to ICA: URS Providers will become Contracted Parties by Philip Corwin, Internet Commerce Association

Internet Commerce Association logoResponding to questions posed by ICA Counsel Philip Corwin at the Public Forum in Beijing, ICANN is now on the record that it is developing a standard contract for all providers of the new Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) rights protection mechanism (RPM) for new gTLDs, and that more URS providers will be selected. This action sets a strong precedent for ICA’s long sought goal of placing UDRP providers under a standard contract.

Those answers were provided through a May 10th ICANN Blog post from Board Chairman Steve Crocker, “Answering Your Questions” (blog.icann.org/2013/05/answering-your-questions/), that links to the full set of responses prepared by ICANN Staff (beijing46.icann.org/meetings/beijing2013/presentation-public-forum-responses-11apr13-en.pdf). The URS response appears at page 6 as follows:

As regards Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) providers, will there be a contract developed that goes beyond the non-enforceable memorandum of understanding? Will there be other URS providers?

Yes, a contract is being developed and additional URS providers will be added.

The full transcript of the Beijing Public Forum can be found at beijing46.icann.org/meetings/beijing2013/transcript-public-forum-11apr13-en.pdf, with Corwin’s questions and remarks at pages 93-94:

PHILIP CORWIN: Good afternoon. Philip Corwin, again, this time speaking on behalf of the domain name investors and developers of the Internet Commerce Association. I have two questions relating to Uniform Rapid Suspension, one of the two new rights protection mechanisms for new TLDs.

The first refers to the fact that the STI-RT unanimously recommended that URS providers be placed under contract, and then the board unanimously adopted all of its recommendations regarding the URS. And, yet, the National Arbitration Forum which had been selected as an URS provider is bound to ICANN only by a two-page memorandum of understanding with no enforcement provisions. So the first question is: Will there be a contract developed that goes beyond that non-enforceable memorandum of understanding?

The second relates to: Will there be other URS providers? The press release at the time NAF was announced said it was the first. And yet I have spoken to other highly qualified applicants who applied to be providers, and they have been able to get no response from ICANN staff regarding if or when their applications may ever be acted upon.

So any clarification on those points would be appreciated.

And I do want to thank ICANN for the fact — and note that we were able to get a U.R.S. provider at the projected price point without any further reduction or modification of the rights of registrants under the URS. And we are very appreciative of that. Thank you.

On April 19th ICANN announced that, in addition to NAF, the Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre (ADNDRC) had been appointed as the second URS arbitration provider, and that ICANN expected to announce one or more additional providers in the near future (see www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-2-19apr13-en.htm).

ICA believes that it is extremely important to place all the providers for this new RPM under a standard contract with sound enforcement provisions to ensure uniform application and fair treatment of registrants as well as to prevent forum shopping.

While the fact that there will be a contract is good news, what’s in it is critically important. We presume that ICANN will put the draft out for public comment, as it does for all new or revised contractual agreements (for example, the currently pending revised Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) and New gTLD Registry Agreement (RA) are both currently out for comment). When that posting occurs ICA will carefully review its provisions and submit relevant comments.

As both NAF and ADNDRC are both current providers of UDRP arbitration services, we believe that placing their URS services under contract sets a clear and strong precedent for implementing the same type of standard enforceable agreement for the UDRP. ICA continues to strongly believe that ICANN should not accredit any new UDRP providers until such a standard contract has been developed and put in place.

This article by Philip Corwin from the Internet Commerce Association was sourced with permission from:
internetcommerce.org/URS_Contracts_Coming

ICANN and Governance

ICANN’s Empire Spreads To China With “Global Engagement Office”

It may have closed down offices such as in Sydney in somewhat controversial circumstances, but that hasn’t stopped ICANN spreading its wings. At the ICANN meeting currently underway in Beijing, China, the President and CEO Fadi Chehadé announced the organisation will open its first new global engagement office in Beijing.”Engagement with China is not merely an option, we simply must engage at every level or we will lose our legitimacy,” said Chehadé. “This is part of our effort to embrace the world.”The China office follows announcements that there will be offices opening up in the near future in Singapore and Istanbul, Turkey, and adds to offices that are already in existence in Brussels, Belgium as well as in the US where it has its head office in Los Angeles, another in Washington DC, and strangely still, an office that was opened under Rod Beckstrom’s tenure in Paolo Alto.The announcement of the Chinese office was made during the welcoming session at ICANN’s 46th public meeting in Beijing – the largest meeting in its 15-year history.So far more than 2,100 people have so far show up for the Beijing meeting.”We’ve never seen anything like it,” said Nick Tomasso, ICANN’s Senior Director of Meetings. “Last year 1,821 showed up for our meeting in Prague in the Czech Republic which, until now, was our largest meeting. That record has now been broken and people are still arriving.”The announcement of ICANN’s expanding presence in China was heralded by Chinese Internet leaders.”Our Internet future will now be brilliant,” said Madam Hu Qiheng, the President of the Internet Society of China. “This is bridge for ICANN and China and it will lead to greater expansion of Internet development.”ICANN Board Chair Dr. Stephen Crocker pointed out the dramatic growth of Internet users in China in the past decade.”In the past decade, Internet use has increase ten fold,” said Crocker. “There are now 564 million Internet users in China and that is expected to climb sharply in the future.”
ICANN’s public meeting in Beijing will continue through the week.

ICANN and Governance, New gTLDs

ICANN: Board-Stakeholder Action List

ICANN46 Beijing Meeting LogoThe attached ICANN Board-Stakeholder Action List sets out what the board heard in Toronto where board action was required, what the proposed action was, and what we’ve done since the ICANN 45 Meeting. In the future, it is intended that an Action List like this one will continue to be published no later than 1 month after each meeting. Just prior to the following meeting an updated version of the Action List will be published setting out what the board has done with respect to each item.

Topic What we heard where action is needed Proposed Action What We’ve Done
1 WCIT Suggestion to establish an ICANN mailing list for those in the ICANN community who will be at WCIT (possibly widen list to I*). Direct the staff to set up mailing list. Completed.
2 Strategic Planning Do not proceed with 2013-2016 Strategic Plan. A new procedure is coming and it needs to ensure there are mechanisms for hearing input so the Community feels heard. The Board has been discussing this since its September board workshop in Los Angeles and plans to continue to work on it and report back as soon as possible. The Board recognizes that any strategic planning framework will need to include the results of the African Strategic Working Group. The upcoming May 2013 Board Retreat to focus on strategic planning.
3 GAC Advice The Board heard several matters from the GAC, which it expects will be addressed in the GAC Communiqué, but specifically notes that the timing of the Board’s response to the GAC Communiqué was sub-optimal. The Board acknowledges the problem and will endeavor to put in place a mechanism to ensure timely arrival of its response. The Board has worked to minimize the amount of time taken to respond to GAC Communiqués by establishing a more thorough timeline.
4 WHOIS Review Report There is no consensus on the actions that should follow the WHOIS Review. The Board will discuss the WHOIS Review during its Board meeting this afternoon. Completed. The Board took action on the Report on 8 Nov. 2012, directing renewed and new efforts be undertaken to enforce current WHOIS policy and contractual conditions, and seeking a new approach to gTLD directory services challenges. We have created a second track to take a strategic look at registration data. The Expert Working Group (EWG) is the first step in this process.
5 Patents in Policy Processes Various parts of the GNSO have indicated that a future policy in this area may be needed and that we should address it before it becomes a concern. Board to request “expert advice” on this topic and then put out the recommended approach for public comment to be adopted by the Board. ICANN staff is in the process of scoping and organizing the collection of expert advice on this issue to meet the Board’s request. During the Beijing meeting, staff will provide an initial memo on the patent topic, which will include additional follow-up steps, including further expert consultation.
6 Article 29 Working Party Letter Many concerns were expressed. The letter will be taken into account in finalizing the negotiations on the RAA. Concerns were taken into account in the RAA negotiations, as were further communications from data protection authorities in the EU on this same topic.
7 JAS Applications JAS applications need to be given priority in this round and improved in the next round. Treatment during this round is in the hands of the CEO and the New gTLD Program Committee. Treatment in future rounds will be taken up when the next round is formulated. No action needed at this point. To be addressed in next round of applications for new gTLDs.
8 New gTLDs – General implementation issues:

  • URS
  • IDN Variants
  • BC and IPC requirements
  • IANA Functions Dept. readiness
  • Registry services readiness
  • Contractual Compliance team readiness
 Numerous comments. Concern expressed that ICANN is not ready in some areas and will not be ready in time. The Board is instructing the CEO to focus his full attention and energy on all implementation actions necessary to keep the program on track. Work ongoing. Please refer to the links below for the most up-to-date information on the New gTLD Program.

http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/webinars

http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/latest
9 New gTLD Funds Document the total amount borrowed from the reserve fund to finance the pre-revenue period of the new gTLD program, and document the intended repayment schedule. We will do so. Detailed documentation of the costs since defined beginning of the program is in the process of being gathered and formalized into a centralized document. The repayment schedule has been determined in the revenue and expense recognition position paper, and corresponds to a monthly repayment throughout the evaluation process.
10 Prioritization Draw Generally positive feedback that IDN’s should have priority; a number of suggestions were made to give preference to various subgroups in association with the Prioritization Draw. The NGPC will consider all feedback from this meeting feedback from this meeting and the comment period. All suggestions are being considered by and will be decided by the CEO & NGPC. Prioritization draw held on 17 December 2012.
11 Rights Protection in New gTLDs A handful of concerns were raised regarding the rights protection mechanism(s).

The IPC and Business Constituency have reached consensus on further mechanisms for rights protections in new gTLDs. They agreed to socialize these to the rest of the GNSO.

 All of these are in the hands of the CEO and the New gTLD Program Committee.

 

The Board looks forward to receiving input on these suggestions from the GNSO.

 The CEO convened a series of stakeholder meetings to review the rights protection mechanisms in light of the IPC/BC list of recs. These resulted in the “Strawman solution” which was posted for public comment as well provided to the GNSO with a request for guidance. The GNSO provided its input and the public comment summary and a review of the analysis are posted.
12 Trademark Clearinghouse There are a significant number of issues with regard to the Trademark Clearinghouse both from an implementation and cost point of view.

Interest in whether the final draft agreement and the signed agreement for the trademark clearinghouse will be made public.

The rights to the trademark clearinghouse database must remain with ICANN.

 The Board supports the CEO’s decision to make solving these issues his top priority.

 

 

Yes, it will be made public.

 

 

The rights will remain with ICANN.

 Changes have been made to the technical implementation in response to stakeholder feedback.

The Trademark Clearinghouse agreement has been split across the functions into several agreements, and these will be posted.

The agreements reflect that the rights to the database remain with ICANN.
13 Submission of Public Forum Topics Public Forum questions submitted in advance should include hinting sentences so everyone can be prepared. Forwarded to staff and the Public Participation Committee (PPC) for implementation. Ongoing discussion by Board on format of public forum moving forward. New ideas will be tried in Beijing.

This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-29mar13-en.htm

ICANN and Governance, New gTLDs

ICANN: New gTLD Sessions Planned for Beijing

ICANN46 Beijing Meeting LogoThe New gTLD Program continues to move forward. Release of Initial Evaluation results will begin this week and the Trademark Clearinghouse will launch on 26 March. Below is a list of all ICANN staff-led new gTLD related sessions planned for Beijing:

SESSION DESCRIPTION
New gTLD Program Status Get the latest update on the New gTLD Program. Review what we’ve accomplished since Toronto, learn what’s coming next in the program, and find out what we are doing to prepare for it.
IDN Variant TLDs Program Get a status update on each of the projects under the IDN Variant TLDs Program. The session will include presentation and discussion of the Program’s projects with a focus on the IDN root LGR Procedure and the User Experience Study Recommendations. The updates will also incorporate a presentation of Program’s next steps and projects.
New gTLD Pre-Delegation Testing Process Review Learn how to prepare the required data and documents for PDT, selecting a point of contact, scheduling your PDT appointment and see a demo of the system.
Trademark Clearinghouse Learn about the TMCH data verification system and what’s coming up with Sunrise and TM Claims.
New gTLD Security Stability & Resiliency (SSR) Update Get a status update on how the Internet community is resolving security issues that have been identified as part of the SSR Program. The session will include presentation and discussion of the general DNS and TLD threat landscape. The session will include a presentation of SSR next steps and what role the ICANN community has in managing risk as new TLDs are delegated into the root

For those who are new to ICANN meetings and to New gTLDs, we have a Newcomer Track session scheduled for Sunday, April 7. This will provide a baseline understanding of where New gTLDs fit in the broader Domain Name System.

There will be other New gTLD-related sessions offered during the week, planned by other groups. Among them: The New TLD Applicant Group (NTAG) will conduct a session on Monday afternoon, the At-Large New gTLD Working Group plans an Outreach Evaluation Meeting on Tuesday, and on Wednesday there will be a session focused on the Impact of New gTLDs on NGOs (NPOC).

See you there!

This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-2-21mar13-en.htm

ICANN and Governance, New gTLDs

ICANN: Pre-Beijing New gTLD Update Webinar

ICANN new generic Top Level Domains logoJoin ICANN staff for a Pre-Beijing New gTLD Program Update webinar.

The New gTLD Program is moving ahead on several tracks at once. Make sure you have the most up-to-date information by participating in this webinar. We will have the latest on Initial Evaluation and the schedule for releasing results, an update on pre-delegation testing and the pre-delegation testing pilot that was held earlier this month. We also will provide updates on contracting, rights protection (TMCH, URS, Objections) and closed generics.

Webinar Details

Date: 26 March 2013
Time: 22:00 – 23:30 UTC (2:00pm – 3:30pm PDT)
Adobe Connect: icann.adobeconnect.com/newgtldwebinar
Dial In: Will be posted to the Webinar page once available.

This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-12mar13-en.htm

ICANN and Governance

Pre-Beijing ICANN Policy Update Webinar Invitation

ICANN logoWhether you plan to participate in the upcoming ICANN meeting in Beijing remotely or in person, you’re invited to an update on the background and current status of major policy issues which are likely to be discussed during the Beijing Meeting.

The ICANN Policy Staff will provide a briefing on Thursday 21 March at 12.00 UTC and Thursday 21 March at 19.00 UTC, summarizing policy issues across the different ICANN Supporting Organizations, namely the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO), Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) and Address Supporting Organization (ASO). Amongst other topics, updates will be provided on:

  • WHOIS related activities
  • The locking of a domain name subject to UDRP Proceedings
  • Protection of IGO and INGO Names
  • IDN ccNSO PDP
  • Study Group on Use of Names for Countries and Territories
  • SSAC report on Domain Name Registration Data Validation Taxonomy

The webinar will cover other topics which will be raised during or otherwise relevant to the Beijing Meeting. In addition, staff will provide a briefing on the ALAC‘s activities related to current policy development issues of the Supporting Organizations.

The two sessions are duplicates, scheduled to accommodate different time zones. Each session, scheduled to run for 90 minutes, will be conducted in English only. The meeting will be run in Adobe Connect with a slide presentation along with a dial-in conference bridge for audio.

Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions at the end of each session. During the course of the webinar, questions may be submitted using the chat function of Adobe Connect. If you are not able to participate in either of the live sessions, the recording of the session will be made available shortly after the meeting. The policy staff is always available to answer any questions that you email to policy-staff@icann.org.

In order to participate, please RSVP via email to the GNSO Secretariat (gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org) to receive the call details. Please indicate which call you would like to join, Thursday at 12.00 UTC or Thursday at 19.00 UTC (to convert those times into your local time, see: www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedform.html). We will send you an e-mail reminder before the event with log-in and dial-in details. Please DO NOT RSVP to any other ICANN staff members e-mail address.

In order to participate, please RSVP via email to the GNSO Secretariat (gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org) to receive the call details.

This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-21feb13-en.htm

ICANN and Governance

ICANN Opens Hotel Booking Links and Registration For Durban, But Check The Fine Print

ICANN logoICANN has opened links for hotel booking and conference registration for its upcoming 47th Public Meeting to be held in Durban, South Africa from 14-18 July 2013, the organisation has announced.

However attendees need to make sure they are going as any hotel cancellations appear to require three months notice.

Michele Neylon has read the fine print and noticed that:

Payment: A one (1) nights deposit is required to secure your room on submission of your booking. in order for your booking to be confirmed. The balance of you accommodation is due by the 31st March 2013.
Cancellations and No Shows
All cancellations must be received in writing. If received before 31st March 2013 a full refund will be passed less a 15% administration fee. After this date no refunds will be processed, but delegates can be substituted.
No-shows and cancellations after 31st March 2013, will be liable for the full fee.

The Durban meeting is one of three public meetings ICANN holds each calendar year in different regions of the globe. Usually comprised of more than 200 different sessions, these week-long meetings are the focal point for individuals and representatives of the various ICANN stakeholder groups to introduce and discuss issues related to ICANN policy. Participants may attend in person or remotely. Meetings are open to everyone and registration is free.

There is still time to register for ICANN 46 in Beijing, People’s Republic of China from 7-11 April 2013.

More Information

ICANN and Governance

ICANN Going To Argentina In November 2013, Then Singapore, London, North America in 2014

ICANN have announced they will be heading to Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 17 to 21 November 2013 for the 48th of their thrice yearly meetings.As per usual there was a call for interested parties to host the meeting. One location application was received, but ICANN deemed this unsuitable as it did not have all of the facilities needed to host an ICANN Meeting.So subsequently ICANN staff undertook a search and settled on Buenos Aires according to the minutes of the Special Meeting of the ICANN Board of 20 December.For 2013, meetings will be held in Beijing, China, from 7 to 11 April and then Durban, South Africa, from 14 to 18 July.Looking at 2014, ICANN has decided to hold its meetings in London, Singapore and a yet to be determined location in North America. Possibly due to the difficulty in finding hosts for the meetings, the board decided on the above locations. But it appears that there might not have been much public consultation for the 2014 meetings, which ICANN is not required to do but has done as part of its community engagement.The lack of likely suitable hosts interested in hosting future meetings, in part due to the costs involved, were reasons ICANN undertook to consolidate the number of locations where meetings would be held in the from 2015 and beyond.Looking at 2015 and beyond, ICANN requested comments on its Consolidated Meetings Strategy proposal earlier in 2012. The Public Participation Committee, under its charter to increase public awareness of, and participation in the affairs of ICANN, will oversee the creation and activities of a Multistakeholder Meeting Strategy Working Group that will examine the design, frequency and regional rotation of future meetings and conferences.