[ga] .com, and possible "material breach" of the contract

[George Kirikos <gkirikos@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

According to paragraph 25.B.(a) of the existing .com Agreement:

http://www.icann.org/tlds/agreements/verisign/registry-agmt-com-25may01.htm

"Following consideration of the Renewal Proposal, Registry Operator
shall be awarded a four-year renewal term unless ICANN demonstrates
that: (a) Registry Operator is in material breach of this Registry
Agreement,"

Given that failure to comply with Appendix W of the registry agreement,
relating to the $200 million in R&D spending would constitute a
"material breach" of the agreement, I hereby formally request that
ICANN produce copies of VeriSign's required annual reports. Appendix W
can be seen at:

http://www.icann.org/tlds/agreements/verisign/registry-agmt-appw-net-org-16apr01.htm

I also formally request that ICANN produce a comment or status report
document VeriSign's progress towards "implementing the Universal Whois
Service by 31 December 2002" which was required in Appendix W. It's my
understanding that Michael Palage was taking "a couple of days to look
into" acquiring those reports 2 years ago. 

http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/ga/msg00824.html

I trust that ICANN will extend the comment period for the proposed
VeriSign settlement, until such time as those reports are produced for
public discussion.

These will allow the community to determine whether ICANN is in
material breach of the .com contract.

Also, section 25.B.b) mentions "(b) Registry Operator has not provided
and will not provide a substantial service to the Internet community in
its performance under this Registry Agreement". I would argue that
SiteFinder (and I'm sure others can produce other examples) might
constitute a material example of a substantial DISSERVICE to the
internet community, which affected the security and stability of the
internet. I would like ICANN counsel's analysis of whether this
argument has possible validity.

Sincerely,

George Kirikos
http://www.kirikos.com/