Congressmen are saying they want fresh assurances that the new strings will not harm trademark holders and that the public has adequate opportunity to comment.
The latest salvo came on Tuesday from the top leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary committees, who wrote ICANN about its program to allow for the introduction of new generic top-level domain names to compete with the 22 existing addresses including .com and .net.
The program was criticized even before it was formally launched in January by trademark holders and others who worried about the costs companies and organizations will incur in trying to defend their brands with the influx of so many new names and that it could spur consumer confusion and fraud.
“We are in a critical phase as ICANN determines which generic top-level domains to authorize and what policies to implement in the new registries,” according to the letter the Judiciary leaders sent to ICANN interim CEO and President Akram Atallah. “We therefore ask that you provide us with further details about the steps ICANN is taking to fulfill its commitment to ensure that the New gTLD process will provide ‘a secure, stable marketplace’ with input from ‘the community as a whole.’ ”
In their latest missive, the lawmakers sought details on several issues including what ICANN has done to inform and seek input from those outside of the ICANN community about the new domain name program. They also sought information on what additional steps ICANN has taken to address lingering concerns from trademark holders.
I always say, “better late than never”.
Thanks to Juliana Gruenwald and the National Journal, and
Thanks for “listening”
Howard
The Neu Facebook
