[bc-gnso] BC Comment on RPMs

[Andy Abrams]

Dear All,

Many thanks to Elisa, J. Scott, Marilyn and Steve for drafting a proposed
comment (attached) to the recent revisions in the RPM requirements.  I
wanted to see if there was interest in further discussion on the first
point made in the comment - the proposal on notice of sunrise period.
 Specifically, I would be in favor of a minimum 60-day combined
sunrise/notice period as opposed to a minimum 30-day notice period and
minimum 30-day sunrise period.  I believe that allowing for greater
flexibility in the notice/sunrise timing would encourage more registries to
extend the sunrise period, thereby achieving in many cases the minimum
60-day sunrise originally requested by the BC and IPC during the Strawman
discussions.  A longer sunrise is beneficial to brand owners, as it gives
us more time to plan, budget and correct any errors in the registration
process.  In addition, since many new gTLD registries may have
"anchor-tenant" or other cross-promotional opportunities for brand owners,
having extra time during sunrise could facilitate such negotiations.

I understand that the primary argument for fixing a lengthy notice period
is to perhaps give businesses more of a last-minute chance to enter the
Clearinghouse prior to a particular registry's launch.  However, I
respectfully believe that this is a bit of an edge case, and we would be
better served advocating for a longer sunrise period.  There is one central
Clearinghouse for all of the new gTLD registries, so there is no advantage
to trying to strategically "time" the submissions, and last-minute national
trademark applications would be ineligible for sunrise protection anyways,
as it is required that all entries relate to trademark applications
filed before ICANN announced the applications received (i.e., June 13,
2012).  I acknowledge that further education may be necessary to ensure
that brand owners submit their Clearinghouse entries in a timely fashion,
so it may be useful to encourage ICANN to team up with various trademark
organizations (such as INTA) to publicize that the Clearinghouse is now
open.

I do agree with the current draft's criticism of the ability to allocate
names 30 days from the date of notice, no matter how much time is left in
the official sunrise period.  All requests for sunrise registration should
be compiled at the end of sunrise, and then analyzed for competing,
identical requests.

I look forward to hearing others' thoughts.  Thank you for your
consideration.

Best,

Andy
-- 
Andy Abrams | Trademark Counsel
*Google* | 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043
(650) 669-8752 <https://www.google.com/voice#phones>
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