[council] Intellectual Property Constituency Communication to ICANN Regarding dotSUCKS
James M. Bladel
jbladel at godaddy.com
Tue Apr 14 14:18:11 UTC 2015
Thanks Phil. So ICANN had an idea of what the Sunrise prices would be a year ago, and this is indeed important.
Thanks—
J.
From: Phil Corwin <psc at vlaw-dc.com<mailto:psc at vlaw-dc.com>>
Date: Tuesday, April 14, 2015 at 6:52
To: Amr Elsadr <aelsadr at egyptig.org<mailto:aelsadr at egyptig.org>>, James Bladel <jbladel at godaddy.com<mailto:jbladel at godaddy.com>>
Cc: Volker Greimann <vgreimann at key-Systems.net<mailto:vgreimann at key-Systems.net>>, "jrobinson at afilias.info<mailto:jrobinson at afilias.info>" <jrobinson at afilias.info<mailto:jrobinson at afilias.info>>, GNSO Council List <council at gnso.icann.org<mailto:council at gnso.icann.org>>
Subject: RE: [council] Intellectual Property Constituency Communication to ICANN Regarding dotSUCKS
In answer to James, ICANN received a letter from Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller in March 2014 about .Sucks.
Press release is at http://www.commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=b3eb5f23-0b85-49ac-85b2-1b81c3fb0db4&ContentType_id=77eb43da-aa94-497d-a73f-5c951ff72372&Group_id=4b968841-f3e8-49da-a529-7b18e32fd69d&MonthDisplay=3&YearDisplay=2014
Letter text is at https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/correspondence/rockefeller-to-crocker-12mar14-en.pdf
Excerpt from the letter:
Approving "sucks", a gTLD with little or no public interest value, will have the effect of undermining the credibility ICANN has slowly been building with skeptical stakeholders. Three companies - Donuts Inc., Momentous Corporation, and Top Level Spectrum Inc. -have applied for this gTLD, claiming that it will foster debate and benefit consumers. I view it as little more than a predatory shakedown scheme. The business model behind this gTLD seems to be the following: force large corporations, small businesses, non-profits, and even individuals, to pay ongoing fees to prevent seeing the phrase "sucks" appended to their names on the Internet.
… One applicant, for example, Vox Populi Registry, owned by the Canadian company Momentous, has started soliciting defensive registrations before it has even secured the right to operate the "sucks" gTLD. According to its website, the company is accepting payments of $2,500 for trademark reservation, which will rise to $25,000 during a 30-day sunrise period and remain at that level annually for trademark owner. Vox Populi claims that the reduced $2,500 fee is a bargain, saying that "Incurring registration fees of $25,000 in Sunrise is a waiting game not worth the prize."
While Vox Populi has now reduced the sunrise registration fee to $2500 annually, rather than the $25,000 they stated a year ago, the concerns expressed by the Senator were pretty much the same as those in the IPC letter. ICANN did nothing in response last year, yet now has taken the unprecedented step of asking two national regulators to opine on the legality of the pricing and business model of the registry. What changed?
Philip S. Corwin, Founding Principal
Virtualaw LLC
1155 F Street, NW
Suite 1050
Washington, DC 20004
202-559-8597/Direct
202-559-8750/Fax
202-255-6172/cell
Twitter: @VlawDC
"Luck is the residue of design" -- Branch Rickey
From: Amr Elsadr [mailto:aelsadr at egyptig.org]
Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2015 6:30 AM
To: James M. Bladel
Cc: Phil Corwin; Volker Greimann; jrobinson at afilias.info<mailto:jrobinson at afilias.info>; council at gnso.icann.org<mailto:council at gnso.icann.org>
Subject: Re: [council] Intellectual Property Constituency Communication to ICANN Regarding dotSUCKS
Hi Phil,
Apart from the question by James, I would be grateful for any further insight you may have into this issue when you publish the article. Please do share a link to your article on this list when it is ready.
Thanks.
Amr
On Apr 14, 2015, at 2:16 AM, James M. Bladel <jbladel at godaddy.com<mailto:jbladel at godaddy.com>> wrote:
HI Phil:
How could the “same concerns” have been raised in March 2014? Wasn’t this primarily an objection to the TLD’s Sunrise pricing practices? Meaning, if sunrise prices had been closer to the GA wholesale price, would there have even been an IPC letter?
Thanks—
J.
From: Phil Corwin <psc at vlaw-dc.com<mailto:psc at vlaw-dc.com>>
Date: Monday, April 13, 2015 at 12:45
To: Amr Elsadr <aelsadr at egyptig.org<mailto:aelsadr at egyptig.org>>, James Bladel <jbladel at godaddy.com<mailto:jbladel at godaddy.com>>
Cc: Volker Greimann <vgreimann at key-Systems.net<mailto:vgreimann at key-Systems.net>>, "jrobinson at afilias.info<mailto:jrobinson at afilias.info>" <jrobinson at afilias.info<mailto:jrobinson at afilias.info>>, GNSO Council List <council at gnso.icann.org<mailto:council at gnso.icann.org>>
Subject: RE: [council] Intellectual Property Constituency Communication to ICANN Regarding dotSUCKS
I will soon be publishing an extensive article on this matter.
For now I would point out that, regardless of the timing of the IPC letter, ICANN received a letter from Sen. Jay Rockefeller, then-Chairman of the US Senate Commerce Committee, raising essentially the same concerns in March 2014.
Philip S. Corwin, Founding Principal
Virtualaw LLC
1155 F Street, NW
Suite 1050
Washington, DC 20004
202-559-8597/Direct
202-559-8750/Fax
202-255-6172/cell
Twitter: @VlawDC
"Luck is the residue of design" -- Branch Rickey
From: owner-council at gnso.icann.org<mailto:owner-council at gnso.icann.org> [mailto:owner-council at gnso.icann.org] On Behalf Of Amr Elsadr
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2015 6:52 AM
To: James M. Bladel
Cc: Volker Greimann; jrobinson at afilias.info<mailto:jrobinson at afilias.info>; council at gnso.icann.org<mailto:council at gnso.icann.org>
Subject: Re: [council] Intellectual Property Constituency Communication to ICANN Regarding dotSUCKS
Hi,
Apologies for coming back to this thread so late, but just wanted to voice my support of the perspectives offered by Volker and James. As this gTLD has already been delegated, and unless there is any reason to believe the registry is not in compliance with its Registry Agreement, I don’t see why ICANN staff would be required or mandated to freeze the launch of .SUCKS.
One part of the blog by Allen Grogen caught my attention, and I probably need to look into this a bit more closely before opining:
“…, if Vox Populi is not complying with all applicable laws, it may also be in breach of its registry agreement. ICANN could then act consistently with its public interest goals and consumer and business protections to change these practices through our contractual relationship with the registry.”
Personally speaking, although I understand the concerns raised by the IPC, I’m not convinced that there is necessarily any malicious intent on the part of Vox Populi. Like Volker said, I agree that this is an interesting business model. Just not entirely sure its actual objective is to extort trademark holders. If the IPC would like to suggest initiation of a policy process to somehow address this, that would be its prerogative. Additionally, should ICANN compliance staff determine that there indeed is a contractual issue ICANN needs to resolve, I would recommend that a discussion about this be held with the GNSO to clarify the reasoning.
Thanks.
Amr
On Apr 1, 2015, at 6:12 PM, James M. Bladel <jbladel at godaddy.com<mailto:jbladel at godaddy.com>> wrote:
Agree with Volker.
This TLD has attracted quite a bit of (negative, and perhaps deservedly so) attention recently, but I am confused by this letter. The window to take action was likely prior to delegation. Once the TLD is delegated and the contract is signed, I don’t see ICANN Staff having the authority to do anything to “halt” the launch. Probably why they didn’t….
Thanks—
J.
From: Volker Greimann <vgreimann at key-Systems.net<mailto:vgreimann at key-Systems.net>>
Date: Wednesday, April 1, 2015 at 10:28
To: "jrobinson at afilias.info<mailto:jrobinson at afilias.info>" <jrobinson at afilias.info<mailto:jrobinson at afilias.info>>, GNSO Council List <council at gnso.icann.org<mailto:council at gnso.icann.org>>
Subject: Re: [council] FW: Intellectual Property Constituency Communication to ICANN Regarding dotSUCKS
Interesting business model, but not really an issue for the GNSO, unless someone is proposing to take this as a basis for new policy development.
As an observer with no skin in this game, this looks to be an issue for compliance to determine if the model violates the policies and/or contracts or not and if it does, to take action accordingly.
For the interesting question of the different fee structure, there seems to be an explanation already:
http://domainincite.com/18282-that-mystery-1-million-sucks-fee-explained-and-its-probably-not-what-you-thought
Best,
VG
Am 01.04.2015 um 11:49 schrieb Jonathan Robinson:
All.
FYI.
Jonathan
From: Greg Shatan [mailto:gregshatanipc at gmail.com]
Sent: 27 March 2015 20:45
To: Jonathan Robinson
Subject: Fwd: Intellectual Property Constituency Communication to ICANN Regarding dotSUCKS
Dear Jonathan,
It was a pleasure working with you in Istanbul.
In your role as Chair of the GNSO, I am sending you a copy of the attached letter, just sent to ICANN, expressing the concerns of the Intellectual Property Constituency regarding the .SUCKS registry.
Best Regards,
Greg
Gregory S.Shatan
President, Intellectual Property Constituency
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