Special Trademark Issues (STI) update - David Maher - submitted 15 December 2009
The Special Trademark Issues (STI) review team has completed the first stage of its work, and, through a message from Margie Milam, has sent draft recommendations from the team to the GNSO Council.
Several minority positions have been or will be filed with the draft, including statements from the Business Constituency, from the ALAC, from the Intellectual Property Constituency, and a joint statement from the NCSG and the RySG.
In general:
1. "There is a consensus[1] among the members of STI that though this was not a rights protection mechanism, the creation of a Trademark Clearinghouse (TC) to be operated by an arms-length contractor, would be a beneficial implementation tool for rights protection mechanisms, such as sunrise or TM Claims, and therefore should be included in the New GTLD program, except as indicated below. The STI recognizes that a Trademark Clearinghouse could serve as a convenient location to store registered trademark information in a centralized location on behalf of trademark holders, and could create efficiencies for trademark owners, as well as registries which will benefit from having one centralized database from which to interact to obtain the necessary trademark information to support its pre-launch rights protections mechanisms."
Inter- Registrar Transfer Policies Part B (IRTP B) - Michele Neylon - chair
We have been "meeting" every 2 weeks
We are still working our way through the charter questions and some of the community feedback
We would hope to be able to have a clearer idea of our status and possible timelines etc., in late January / early February. To attempt to do so now would not be either sane or advisable
Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery (PEDNR) - Michele Neylon - co-chair
The group has been trying to deal with its charter questions and to that end Marika had been conducting a survey of some of the largest registrars to get a "feel" for how they handle domains post-expiry. The group has been discussing the results of the survey and also the input from the other stakeholder groups
Salient points to date would appear to be that a lot of the issues may be due to end users ignoring notifications etc.,
Some group members feel strongly that there are issues to be addressed, while others feel that the WG is in danger of going outside scope
In terms of times / dates - I'm not aware of any being discussed so far.
JIG (Joint ccNSO/GNSO IDN Group - Edmon Chung - submitted 17 December 2009
- ccNSO in the process of appointing co-chair
- Some discussions being started on mailing list
- Identified IDN TLD acceptance as a potential item of common interest
- kick off discussion between co-chairs and chairs of GNSO/ccNSO planned
International Registration Data (IRD) Working Group - Edmon Chung - co-chair - submitted 17 December 2009
- Bi-weekly phone conference being established
- Co-chairs identified: Myself from GNSO, Jeremy Hitchcock from SSAC
- Continuing from staff initial study
- Context of other WHOIS studies along with IRD being considered (i.e. what should be done by this group versus other items)
- Schedule and scope of work to be laid out
Internationalized Domain Names Group (IDNG) - Edmon Chung - co-chair - submitted 17 December 2009
- Conference calls conducted and planed
- Identified a potential item for council discussion: acceptance and process for application of a confusingly similar TLD string
- Will redraft potential special IDN gTLD track WG for consideration
Registration Abuse Policies (RAP) Working Group (WG) - Greg Aaron - chair
The RAPWG is targeting February 12th for the publication of its Initial Report, in advance of the ICANN meeting in Nairobi. I hope to present the findings in the Initial Report to the GNSO Council at Nairobi. While the RAPWG has not yet discussed it, it might also offer an open meeting at Nairobi in order to present the findings in the Initial Report to interested members of the community.
Geo Regions Working Group - Olga Cavalli
There will be a wide Survey to understanding the relevance and use of Regions in ICANN.
The group and Staff are working on the final version of this document.
Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) Sub-team A (Registrant Rights Charter) - Beau Brendler coordinator - submitted 15 December 2009
RAA WG team A met December 14, its second telephonic meeting. In that meeting we agreed:
* That Michele Neylon of Blacknight, an Ireland-based, registrar, would co-chair the WG.
* That to proceed at best possible efficiency and speed, a plain English/plain language document "translation" would be needed of both the existing potential RAA language on consumer bill of rights provisions, and of the staff document compiled by Margie Milam. Margie agreed to expedite this process by, it is hoped, the first week of January.
* Concurrent to this process, the at-large community (and others interested) would compile an "aspirational" document (or "wish list") of possible additions to future versions of the RAA. We did this in an attempt to address concerns from some members of the at-large that RAA WG team A was simply engaging in a stenographic process, and concerns from other members of the community that an accurate document based on current RAA language needs to be produced immediately.
* I agreed to brief the at-large community at its Dec. 22 meeting to encourage members of the community to contribute to the aspirational list.
* As a group we agreed that we would, assuming we receive the plain english documents, re-convene on Jan. 4 with the goal to produce both the consumer rights document, and separately the aspirational list, by the first week of February.
Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) subteam B (identifying issues for possible RAA amendments) - Steve Metalitz coordinator
RAA subteam B met on December 3, mainly to discuss with a guest law enforcement representative the recommendations submitted on behalf of several law enforcement agencies for possible amendments to the RAA. The next meeting is being scheduled for the week of December 14 and will include a review of a revised composite document of amendment topics prepared by staff.
ccNSO update - Olga Cavalli
Mozambique (.mz) is now the 100th member of the ccNSO.
ccNSO membership statistics can be found at http://ccnso.icann.org/about/ccnso-membership-august-2003-november-2009.pdf.
ccNSO is in the process of appointing a co-chair for the Joint ccNSO-GNSO IDN wg.
At its meeting in Seoul the ccNSO Council appointed Young Eum Lee and Ondrej Filip as co-chairs of a “wildcard” study group, which is in the process of proposing a statement of activities to be adopted by the Council. After adoption of that statement the co-chairs would seek members from the community and set up a liaison with SSAC.
Travel drafting team - Olga Cavalli
Names of constituencies and stakeholder groups that will participate in the Kenya meeting and will be funded by ICANN must be informed to ICANN Staff as soon as possible.
GNSO Work Prioritization Model Drafting Team - Olga Cavalli - chair
The Work Prioritization Model DT met in two teleconferences.
In the last teleconference, the WT revised a complete list of projects and agreed in abbreviations for each of them. Detailed explanation of each project will be added to the list.
These projects will be ranked and then prioritized.
Categories related with the level of activity of each project are being defined by the working group.
Once the list of projects and categories are defined, a two axis representation of them will be prepared.
OSC Constituency work team recommendations for a constituency /SG toolkit of services - Chuck Gomes - OSC chair
OSC Steering Committee has accepted the Work Team's recommendations. The document has been distributed to all stakeholder groups. Please remind stakeholder group/constituency members to review the recommendations. A motion has been made and seconded for the Council to vote on at the 17 December 2009 meeting.
OSC Constituency & Stakeholder Group WT progress report - Olga Cavalli - chair
The toolkit recommendations are ready for Council approval in the next meeting.
Other parts of the draft documents are in new rounds of revision, they are:
• Framework for participation in any ICANN Constituency that is objective, standardized, and clearly stated
• Creating and maintaining a database of all constituency members and others not formally a part of any constituency
• Recommendations for operating principles that are representative, open, transparent and democratic.
Meetings of the wt take place every two weeks.
OSC Community Coordination Communications Work Team - Mason Cole - chair
The CCT produced a draft set of recommendations in late October and submitted the draft to the OSC for consideration and feedback. This week, the OSC provided substantial feedback on the draft. Staff is in the process of incorporating their comments and will provide the CCT with an updated draft document.
The recommendations have been separated into two categories: one dealing strictly with technology-related communications methods, the other addressing all other areas of GNSO communication considered by the CCT.
The CCT will likely reconvene in the very near future to discuss further revisions. At present, there is no available estimate for delivery of the final set of recommendations.
OSC GNSO Council Operations Work Team (GCOT) - Ray Fassett - chair
Key Areas of Progress:
- Abstentions due to conflicts in the Voting Process
- Looking at ways to solve conflicts at the SG/Constituency level (rather than at the Council level, such as having to abstain upon a council
vote)
- Have requested ICANN staff legal advice on the notion of a SG/Constituency being able to transfer their vote (such as to a different
rep) upon declaration by a rep of a conflict of interest.
- Looking to re-prioritize new work items of the work team.
PPSC Policy Development Process work team (PDP-WT) - Jeff Neuman - chair
To be added
PPSC Working Group model work team - J. Scott Evans - chair
We are continuing to refine our language and we are also having discussions regarding several points put to our team by the PDPWT. We are hopeful that we will finish our work by the end of this year, or at the latest, the end of January 2010.
Constituency/Stakeholder Group Update Report For 23 November GNSO Council Meeting - Rob Hoggarth - 16 December 2009
Renewed “Re-confirmation” Efforts For Existing GNSO Constituencies -
The Board adopted a concept of “re-confirming” the charters and operational mechanisms of each GNSO Constituency every three years (see - http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/minutes-28aug08.htm). The initial Constituency re-confirmation process was slated for earlier this year, but the process took a back seat as the Board focused its efforts on evaluation and approval of the new GNSO Stakeholder Group structures and approval of the processes and recommended Bylaws changes necessary for seating the new GNSO Council. Now that the Board has generally resolved those issues, it has set a deadline of March 2010 for formal re-submission of any revised re-confirmation proposals by the existing GNSO Constituencies and has directed the ICANN Staff to assist constituency leaders in developing those submissions (see - 30 October 2009 Board Meeting Resolutions - Consent Agenda Item 1.3).
The GNSO Constituency Operations Work Team is also continuing to make progress on a set of recommendations for review by the Operating Steering Committee. A document may be completed by the work team next month and that work product could be combined with the re-confirmation effort. Staff will reach out to community leaders to discuss these matters shortly after the upcoming holiday season.
The Commercial and Business Users Constituency and the Internet Service and Connectivity Providers Constituency have now provided their charter updates to reflect the new Stakeholder Group structures.
Potential New GNSO Constituencies Remain Under Consideration – ICANN Board members conducted substantial discussions in Seoul regarding the proposals for four new GNSO Constituencies. At its 9 December meeting the Board decided to “not approve” the proposed charters for the potential new CyberSafety, City TLDs and IDNgTLDs constituencies. The proponents for those potential constituencies can revise and re-submit their proposals in the future. The proposal for a new Consumers Constituency remains “pending.” The latest public documents regarding the proposals are located here - http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/newco-process-en.htm. The process also remains available for other interested parties to develop proposals for new GNSO Constituencies and to submit them to the Board.
Permanent Stakeholder Group Charters – When the Board approved the four (4) new GNSO Stakeholder Group structures earlier this year it acknowledged that the charters for the Commercial Stakeholder Group and the Non Commercial Stakeholder Group were to be transitional/temporary and that permanent charters were to be developed over the course of the coming year. The Board is already examining some options being considered by the community for what permanent charters might look like. Based on discussions in Seoul, the Staff will be working to develop opportunities for dialogue and further community discussion of these important matters.