[council] NCUC statement on the URS

[<Mary.Wong@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The following is a formal statement from the Non-Commercial Users Constituency 
(NCUC) on the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) system. We would greatly 
appreciate it if ICANN staff or the GNSO representatives on the Board could 
ensure that it is forwarded to the rest of the Board as soon as possible. Thank 
you.
 
"The NCUC strongly urges the ICANN Board to retain the current proposed 
standard of proof in relation to the URS. Not only is the standard consistent 
with the recommendations made by the IRT and STI, which represents community 
consensus on this particular point, lowering the standard to that being 
requested by the GAC would completely undermine the purpose of the URS, which 
is to expedite suspension of domains in "slam dunk" cases without abrogating 
the rights of applicants to due process. Allowing an expedited suspension on 
the basis merely of a "preponderance of the evidence" would go against this 
fundamental principle, and disrupt registrants' reliance on domain stability. 
Changing the evidentiary standard would also potentially expand the URS, 
undoing the safeguards that were negotiated and published in the Guidebook and 
raising the very real possibility of abuse of the URS. The URS is not intended 
to replace the UDRP, and as such one of the critical differences between the 
two - as to the standard of proof - must be retained."
 
Best regards,
Mary
 
 
Mary W S Wong
Professor of Law
Chair, Graduate IP Programs
Director, Franklin Pierce Center for IP
UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE SCHOOL OF LAWTwo White StreetConcord, NH 
03301USAEmail: mary.wong@xxxxxxx.eduPhone: 1-603-513-5143Webpage: 
http://www.law.unh.edu/marywong/index.phpSelected writings available on the 
Social Science Research Network (SSRN) at: http://ssrn.com/author=437584