[council] Proposed Draft of Note to send to the GAC re: IOC/Red Cross Names

[Alan Greenberg]

At 24/10/2011 06:37 AM, Neuman, Jeff wrote:
>All,
>
>Please find enclosed a proposed draft of a note that I believe 
>should be sent by Stephane to the GAC documenting our discussion 
>yesterday on the IOC/Red Cross names, including both a recap of our 
>understanding of the proposal and the questions we have.  This is a 
>first draft and I welcome your comments or suggestions.  I know the 
>suggestion that we form a joint group was met with silence, but I 
>strongly believe we should continue to press on that.
>
>Thanks.
>
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
>
>Dear __________,
>
>The GNSO Council truly appreciates the work that has gone into the 
>GAC's "Proposal to the GNSO RE: Protecting the International 
>Committee and Red Cross/Red Crescent Names in New gTLDs" 
>("Proposal").   We want to assure you that the GNSO Council has 
>taken, and will continue to take, the proposal seriously.  At this 
>point in time, we do not have a consensus position of the Council on 
>this topic, but believe the way forward is to try and find a way 
>work with collaboratively with the GAC to find a workable solution 
>to the issues identified.
>
>To that end, we wanted to document our understanding of the proposal 
>to ensure that we had a

Replace phrase: we both have a

>  common understanding on

Replace word: of

>  the Proposal.   Our understanding is that the Proposal at the 
> top-level is (a) to place the exact strings contained in Schedule A 
> of the Proposal on the official reserved names list as opposed to 
> the "Strings Ineligible for Registration" list in the Applicant 
> Guidebook, and (b) that the  reservation be a permanent one as 
> opposed to applying in just the initial round.

Add: This implies that the names may not be used as gTLDs, even at 
the request of the designated trade-mark owners.

>
>At the second-level, the Proposal asks that the strings contained in 
>Schedule A be "reserved".  With respect to this proposal, the GNSO 
>raised several questions during its discussions this weekend.  The 
>first is to confirm whether the reservation sought applies just to 
>exact matches of those marks or whether it is the GAC's desire to 
>"reserve" all strings containing those marks.  We have assumed it 
>was the former, but would like to confirm.

I think that a few examples of names that could be registered under 
this assumption should be included. Perhaps Olympics-Seoul, 
Olympic-Games and Red-Cross and RedCross-Tsunami.

It may also be worth pointing out that at the second level, there are 
currently no (few?) examples where such comparison test are made 
during the second-level domain registration process, and the 
implementation of such a requirement may be problematic.

>
>
>In addition, the GNSO Council noted that there are several types of 
>Reserved Names contained within the proposed new gTLD ICANN Registry 
>Agreement.  The first type which only consists of the string 
>"EXAMPLE" is a reserved name which may under no circumstances be 
>delegated at the second level.  The second type of Reserved Names 
>are those that are initially reserved, but may be used by the 
>Registry Operator (eg, www, nic and whois).  A third type of 
>reserved names are those that are initially reserved, but may be 
>delegated under certain limited circumstances.  For example, two 
>character strings are initially reserved, however, the Registry 
>Operator may propose release of these reservations based on its 
>implementation of measures to avoid confusion with the corresponding 
>country codes.  Further, country and territory names are initially 
>reserved, but may be released to the extent that the Registry 
>Operator reaches agreement with the applicable government(s), or 
>subject to review by ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee and 
>approval by ICANN.
>
>Finally, the GNSO understands that with respect to both the IOC and 
>Red Cross marks, there may be certain circumstances in which the 
>IOC, Red Cross and/or their affiliated entities may want to use the 
>domain names and the second-level themselves.  In addition, 
>notwithstanding the international protection afforded to these 
>marks, there may be certain circumstances where third parties do 
>have a legitimate right to use and register these marks either due 
>to grandfathering rules, geographic considerations, etc. (eg., 
>Olympic Airlines and Olympic paint).  Therefore, the GNSO believes 
>that there should be a mechanism to release these names to those 
>entities and that such a mechanism still needs to be developed.
>
>The GNSO Council would like to thank the GAC for the well thought 
>out and detailed proposal and would like to again request that the 
>GNSO work collaboratively together to address these questions We 
>believe a good way forward would be solicit volunteers from both the 
>GAC and GNSO to form a committee or task force to work through these 
>issues with the goal of sending those recommendations back to their 
>respective organizations for approval.  We know time is limited to 
>resolve these matters and remain committed to do so as quickly as possible.

Lastly, their cover letter says: "The GAC's proposal characterizes 
protection of the Red Cross and IOC names at the second level as an 
implementation aspect of the new gTLD program, consistent with 
existing registry contracts."

Does that imply an expectation that whatever comes out of this 
process will be applied to existing gTLDs as well?

Alan

>
>Respectfully submitted,
>
>_____________________
>
>Jeffrey J. Neuman
>Neustar, Inc. / Vice President, Law & Policy
>21575 Ridgetop Circle, Sterling, VA 20166
>Office: +1.571.434.5772  Mobile: +1.202.549.5079  Fax: 
>+1.703.738.7965 / 
><mailto:jeff.neuman at neustar.biz>jeff.neuman at neustar.biz  / www.neustar.biz
>
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