Hi Mary Thanks for this info, interesting and perhaps less discouraging than usual. I looked at the list of members a ways back and it seemed like you were in a potentially lonely position. Within the confines of the agreement, can you say anything about the extent to which public interest/noncomm considerations were in the mix and/or had an impact? Cheers, Bil On Apr 24, 2009, at 2:16 AM, Mary Wong wrote: > Thanks, Bill - I'd just seen that article too. > > Everyone, as I was asked by the IPC to be on the IRT, and as I > wasn't able during the last NCUC call to elaborate on what's being > done, here's a quick summary: > > - The Implementation Recommendation Team's (IRT) initial draft > proposals will be released tomorrow for public comment. I'd > encourage everyone to review the proposals and submit feedback, as > the IRT is due to make its final recommendations to the Board in > late May. > > - the IRT meets weekly via teleconference, and in two in-person > meetings (one in April, one in May); in between, various work teams > that were formed within the IRT also meet via teleconference and > work on draft proposals for circulation and comment by other IRT > members. > > - the discussions to date include proposals dealing with both top > and second level domains and regarding both pre-launch and post- > delegation issues. The primary suggestion is to use an IP > Clearinghouse with tiered rights protection mechanisms (instead of a > single Reserved Names List - this was a non-starter given the flak > the GAC and the Geographic Names List has been getting); and there > may also be a rapid suspension system for abusive registrations. > - contrary to some expectations, the process so far has not been a > whitewash in favor of big brand owners. There have been compromises, > disagreements and quite a bit of debate over controversial issues. > While the draft report is unlikely to please everybody, I think it > is more balanced than some had feared and is not, for example, a > back door route to expand the UDRP (as Phil Corwin alleges in the > article). > > - Minutes of previous IRT meetings are available online at https://st.icann.org/new-gtld-overarching-issues/index.cgi?trademark_protection > (if you have limited time, the more informative minutes are > probably those from April 2 and April 17). > > So please review the draft proposals when they are released late > tomorrow, and please do make public comments - and also start a > discussion on this listserv - if you see anything that you think may > impact on non-commercial users and consumers. > > Thanks, > Mar > > Mary W S Wong > Professor of Law > Franklin Pierce Law Center > Two White Street > Concord, NH 03301 > USA > Email: [log in to unmask] > Phone: 1-603-513-5143 > Webpage: http://www.piercelaw.edu/marywong/index.php > Selected writings available on the Social Science Research Network > (SSRN) at: http://ssrn.com/author=437584 > y > >>> William Drake <[log in to unmask]> 4/23/2009 > 4:50 PM >>> > If you've not seen it...http://www.circleid.com/posts/20090422_ica_icann_implementation_recommendation_team/ *********************************************************** William J. Drake Senior Associate Centre for International Governance Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Geneva, Switzerland [log in to unmask] www.graduateinstitute.ch/cig/drake.html ***********************************************************