<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div>Dear Jonathan and fellow Council members,<br><br></div>I would like to request the addition of an item to the draft Beijing GNSO Council meeting agenda, circulated earlier today, by proposing a motion for discussion and adoption, copied below. <br>
<br><br>"The
GNSO Council registers its disappointment and concern at the
recent adoption in significant parts by ICANN staff of the Trademark
Clearing House
"Strawman Solution", despite the proposal's flawed genesis
and the strong opposition to it voiced by both the
GNSO council and a significant portion of the public comments. The
expansion of
rights protection mechanisms in the new gTLDs, following the
comprehensive policy processes of the GNSO that had appeared to settle
these issues,
and also the clear determination by the GNSO Council that specific
measures therein represent substantive policy-making rather than purely
technical or operational implementation, represent an unwarranted extension into the policy-making
function by
ICANN staff. <br><br>The GNSO Council strongly regrets the decision to
circumvent the established, transparent and rules-based policy
development process in a top-down decision-making process, to the
detriment of the GNSO Council's bylaw-defined role and the
multi-stakeholder model more broadly.<br><br>
As ICANN staff also currently seeks to endow the Board with top-down and unilateral policy authority in the new RA and RAA,
without substantive justification, the GNSO Council is deeply concerned
by the implications of this extension of executive privilege, in the adoption of the "Strawman Solution", and in other issues,
and for the future of the multi-stakeholder model.<br><br>
The GNSO council therefore requests that the Board re-consider the proposed course of
action regarding the TMCH, and, specifically, that the the extension of the TMCH claims procedure to 90
days and the inclusion of 50 additional terms not to be implemented until these
proposals have been approved by a majority of the GNSO Council after
careful consideration of their implications." <br><br></div>Best regards,<br><br></div>Maria<br></div>