[registrars] Regarding reselling of valuable deleted domain names in a secondary market

["Bruce Tonkin" <Bruce.Tonkin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 Hello All,

Please note that the business constituency has tabled the following
motion for the GNSO Council meeting on 13 Jan 2005.

I welcome any feedback/comments from members of the constituency.

Regards,
Bruce Tonkin
Registrars rep on the GNSO Council



________________________________

From: Philip Sheppard [mailto:philip.sheppard@xxxxxx] 
Sent: Thursday, 6 January 2005 12:49 AM
To: Bruce Tonkin
Cc: council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Draft Agenda for Council meeting Thursday 13 January 2005


Bruce, would you be kind enough to table this resolution for the 13
January Council meeting on behalf of the BC? 

Issue - Re-selling of valuable deleted domain names in a secondary
market 

The typical model for selling deleted TLDs is first-come first-served
and this works well for ordinary names where the profit to registries
and registrars is small and similar.  But it does not work for special
names where the domain name equity is much higher, either because the
name has perceived value, or there is a desirable level of associated
traffic with the name. A secondary market has grown up to remarket the
names. Some names are bought for speculative resell; others because they
have traffic still active and are resold to redirect the traffic to
other, sometimes undesirable, sites. This market has created a new
business opportunity for registrars and a problem for the registries.
Certain registrars are "slaming" the registries with automated requests
for desirable names. Because the present system provides equal access to
all registrars, some registrars have created new ICANN accredited
daughter registrars whose sole purpose is to request deleted names -
thus increasing the chance for the parent registrar to get desirable
names.  This massive set of requests is affecting the ability of the
registrars to manage their existing bona fide business efficiently. This
impacts on stability. The implication of these new types of ICANN
accredited registrars needs to be assessed.

Proposal 
Council needs to investigate the issue fully and so should consider the
need for a PDP with a request for ICANN staff to write an issues report.

Draft resolution 
Whereas the re-selling of certain deleted or expiring names has lead to
unforeseen strains on the ability of registries and registrars to manage
their business efficiently,

Whereas this affects the service level provided to users and the meaning
of ICANN accredited as it applies to registrars,

Council resolves, 
to request the ICANN staff manager to write an issues report (as
specified in annex A to the ICANN by-laws) on the "Re-selling of
valuable deleted/expiring domain names in a secondary market", so that
Council can subsequently decide if a policy development process would be
appropriate.



Many thanks 
Philip 

PS I am open to friendly amendments to improve the wording of the
resolution should this help clarity.