John DemcoNew gTLD Delegations Continue, First City TLD Activated – The activation of new generic Top Level Domains continues. As of January 3, 82 new gTLDs have been delegated into the root zone, an increase of 47 since December 10. Included in the most recent batch is the first city gTLD, .wien, for the Austrian capital…
ICANN Considers .Brand Top-Level Domains – ICANN has posted a proposal to make changes to the ICANN Registry Agreement relating to “.brand” TLDs. Among the changes would be permission for the .brand registry to exclusively use a chosen registrar or registrars, rather than being required to be available through all ICANN accredited registrars. Public comments…
John DemcoICANN Meeting in Buenos Aires – ICANN’s 48th public meeting wrapped up last week in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Two of the main themes were the New gTLD Program and Internet governance. New gTLD Program progress was outlined in a report dated November 18 covering application processing, rights protection mechanisms, name collision, and other topics. The…
John DemcoNew Generic Top-Level Domains Delegated – The first new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) in ICANN’s New gTLD Program have been delegated, or entered into the root zone of the Internet. The operators of these domains can now make the final arrangements required to offer domain names under the new TLDs available for registration. The new…
John DemcoSunrise For Some New gTLDs May Start On October 29 – The Donuts domain name registry has reportedly announced that the Sunrise period for nine of the new gTLDs it has applied for may start on October 29. The domains are: .camera, .clothing, .equipment, .guru, .holdings, .lighting, .singles, .ventures and .voyage. The launch date is…
John DemcoCIRA Announces 2013 Board of Directors Election Results – The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) has announced that Rowena Liang, Louise Macdonald, Kevin McArthur, and Rob Villeneuve have been elected to its Board of Directors. A total of 2236 votes were cast, and a complete list of candidates and vote counts has been posted. Long…
John DemcoCIRA Election Slate Finalized; Campaign Forum Under Way – With shows of support now complete for Members’ nominees for the CIRA Board of Directors election, the final slate of candidates has been published. The online campaign forum has commenced and will run until noon ET on September 16. Online voting takes place from September 16…
John DemcoMember Nominees Seek Shows Of Support For CIRA Election – The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) has published the names and statements of Member Nominees in the forthcoming CIRA Board of Directors election. To be included on the ballot, a nominee must receive the support of at least 20 CIRA Members. This year, a CIRA…
John DemcoCanadian Internet Forum And CIRA Annual General Meeting To Be Held In Montreal – The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), registry operator for Canada’s .CA domain, is combining the Canadian Internet Forum (CIF) and CIRA’s 2013 Annual General Meeting (AGM) this year. The combined event will be held in Montreal on Monday, September 16. A…
John DemcoICANN Releases Reports On Name Collisions And Dotless Domains – ICANN has released two reports which will are likely to affect aspects of the New gTLD Program. One report is on “name collisions” within the Domain Name System, i.e. situations in which names used in some private networks are the same as names applied for…
John DemcoCIRA 2013 Election: Nomination Committee Slate Announced, Member Applications Open – In the 2013 Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) Board of Directors election, three Directors will be elected from the Nomination Committee slate, and one Director will be elected from the Members’ slate. The Nomination Committee slate, announced on July 22, consists of Ruth Corbin,…
John DemcoICANN Board Approves New Registry Agreement – The ICANN Board, through its New gTLD Program Committee (NGPC), has approved a new Registry Agreement [PDF]. The agreement will be used as the basis for all new gTLD registry contracts. As noted in the press release [PDF], agreement provisions include: a Trademark Clearinghouse where trademark holders can…
John DemcoICANN Board Approves Revised Registrar Agreement – ICANN’s Board of Directors has approved [PDF] a new version [PDF] of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA), a standard contract to be executed between ICANN and each accredited registrar. Some of the notable changes from the previous contract are: registrar points-of-contact for reporting abuse, verification and validation of…
John DemcoPrivate Auctions for gTLD Applications Commence – The first private auction has taken place to resolve contention among multiple applicants for six gTLDs: .club, .college, .luxury, .photography, .red, and .vote. Also Antony van Couvering, CEO of Minds + Machines, has written an article on why he prefers a private auction to one run by ICANN.…
John DemcoApplications To CIRA’s Nomination Committee Close Soon – The CIRA Nomination Committee is seeking qualified individuals to apply to be candidates for this year’s CIRA Board of Directors election. Applications close this Thursday, June 6. The Committee will review applications and select a Nomination Committee Slate to be voted on in September by .CA Members.…
