A brief update on the new IDN ccTLD (country code top level domain name in local script)
.中国 (".china“ or ".Zhongguo" )
On Friday 25th of June the board of ICANN approved the IDN ccTLD
.中国
(Plus the same for .Taiwan and .Hong Kong)
According to Li GuangHao, who is the Deputy Director, Dept. Of Intnl Business at CNNIC, the. 中国 will be launched in August (maybe even mid July).
The rules are planned as follows:
A) Grandfathering period for all current IDN.cn or CDNs (you need a domain name with Chinese characters in. Latin script .cn will not give you a . 中国). The registrant of these IDN.cn and/or CDNs will automatically be granted the equivalent string under ..
B) There is currently no plans for a TM Sunrise phase or any other Sunrise phases
C) It will be launched based on FCFS
D) Requirements are the same as for .cn
- Local Presence
- Hard copy application form
- Copy (sealed and signed) of Chinese business certificate
- Copy of passport/id of Chinese Citizen of the WHOIS contact person (registrant)
I will keep you posted as soon as we have official requirements/launch data from CNNIC
In case you currently have no IDN.cn, it may be a good idea to look into that. I do not know, if the grandfathering period is only for "old IDNs" registered before a certain date.
If you have a need for a trustee/local presence service, this can be arranged with trusted Chinese Law Firms, feel free to contact me if you need info/provider.
Read the official press release from CNNIC (can be google translated).
Tuesday, 29 June 2010
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
DAG4 and new timeline for gTLDs - ICANN is expecting 400-500 new gTLDs
Yesterday on June 1st, ICANN published the DAG 4 and added a new time line.
DAG4 supposedly is the final DAG, and the final applicant guidebook, to be ammensed after a comment period following the ICANN meeting late June in Bruxelles, is expected to be published in Q3, 2010.
The launch date - or rather the opening of the application window (45 days) is expected to be announced around October 2010. In other words my guess is that the timeline for the introduction of new gTLDs is as follows:
New Timeline
DAG4 comment period July-September
Applicant Guidebook and launch date: October 2010
ICANN promotion tour/campaign - October-February 2011
Application window: March or April 2011
Launch of new gTLDs - Q1 2012-Q3 2012.
Interestingly ICANN is expecting 400-500 new gTLDs (their budget is based on these assumptions)
What has been added changed in DAG4 (DAG3 was published October 2009)?
DAG4:
IP Protection:Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) (Fast track UdRP procedure; electronic filing, max 5,000 words; costs 300 USD link to WHOIS and copy of infringing part of website, registry locks domain within 24 hours and registrant has 20 days to respond. Decision within 3 days – max 14 days. Remedy: frozen domain name until expiry date.
Sunrise Phases for trademark owners (based on word trademarks registered prior to 26 June 2008) or
Trademark Claim Notices (where registrants are being noticed - with a link to the trademark clearing house – that they are about to infringe on others’ rights
The Trademark Clearinghouse (TM Clearinghouse) for word trademarks registered before 26 June 2008
The Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Proposal (PDDRP)
Geographical Names
Capitals who want to apply for .city (i.e. .london) are now to get support by state governments in terms of letter of support/endorsement or letter of support
(previously a letter of non-objection from city
authorities was sufficiant)
In case a city is both a city, and a region (i.e. .berlin, .basel) the applicant must prove support/non objection from both state, regional, and city governments.
Contry names (IDN or Roman Characters) are NOT allowed as new gTLDs
Public Comment Periods related to applications
Icann will implement Public comment periods (45 days) for potential comments or criticisms, and objections against applications for new gTLDs.
These comments will be included in the evaluation of potential conflicts (contention sets, community priority evalutaions etc.).
Restrictions on Registrar Cross-Ownership
Icann will not accept applications from ICANN accredited registrars or any of their affiliates under their control (currently defined by a 2 % ownership limit or otherwise controlled).
To a brand owner this may be of relevance, as a brand owner applying for a .brand gTLD will have to pursue the following set up:
Registry: Brand Company - supported by a registry operator service provider who is not an ICANN accredited registrar, to whom the brand owner is used to outsource the management of their domain name portfolio.
Registrar: ICANN accredited registrars - in principle equal access for all ICANN registrars.
Registrant: The brand company (or possible also daughter companies, affiliates, customers, employees etc.
Thus in case a brand owner is looking for a “one-stop” service provider (registrar, registry backend provider, DNS hosting etc.) this will not possible with the current ICANN regulations on maximum 2 % Cross Ownership.
A brand owner would now how to engage with both a registry backend provider and an ICANN accredited registrar in order to operate and register gTLDs in its own TLD.
Within the Virtual Integration Working Group under GNSO at ICANN an attempt is in progress to formulate an alternative policy that may or may not allow ICANN accredited registrars to also offer registry services (everything from zero to 100 % cross ownership is being suggested).
My guess is, however, that a compromise on 15 % cross ownership limits may eventually be implemented in the final guide book.
This will, no doubt, be a very hot topic at the next ICANN Meeting in Bruxelles later this month.
Payment Terms:
Applicants are now to pay 5,000 USD in deposit, when signing up for the application process. (To avoid “frivolous access to the application system.”) Overall application costs (ex. potential extended review evaluation fees and potential objection handling fees and potential auction costs…) are still USD 185,000).
Evaluation of Applicants (2.1. Background Check in DAG4)
ICANN will perform background checks on the individuals involved in any new gTLD. The criteria for investigation carried out by a third party will cover areas such as: Money Laundring, Terrorism, Serious and organized crime, arms trafficking and war crimes as well as intellectual property violations.
I believe that an applicant will not pass the background check if he or she has been involved in any of these activities (! It is stated that applicants are checked for these areas…) it is however certain that one will not qualify if; one has been found liable for cybersquatting or felony related to financial activities.
This should give brand owners a very high degree of certainty that cybersquatters having lost UdRP cases (I guess that is the criteria) can apply for a gTLD.
Two Character IDN gTLDs are now allowed!
For ASCII (or “LHD”: Latin letter, hyphen,digit) characters still a minimum of three characters are required in the new gTLD string. “I.e. “.car, ” whereas IDN strings (as long as they do not cause confusion or are too similar or identical to Latin Characters) are allowed in only two characters. This will enable i.e. Chinese regions to apply for their geographical names (typically only two characters) as a an IDN gTLD. Furthermore it allows for a number of two character generic terms in non Latin scripts.
Enhanced technical and security requirements:
ICANN has a number of areas related to technical set up, performance of systems, servers and security measures. In general a very strict and detailed description of the technical set up is required, which will make it difficult for new entries in the registry backend provider business or at least create large administrative burdens for single applicants or for registry providers supporting few applicants…
Budget period and proof of funds reduced from five to three years
Letter of Credit (LOC) reduced from five ( or end of registry agreement) to three years.
although it will be difficult to assess or estimate the revenue in such a changing marketplace, where the number of competitors is completely unknown, by lowering the requirements for the LOC from five to three years funding, ICANN has made it easier to prove financial solidity.
This part of the application is kept confidential. It would, however, be interesting reading to see how different applicants assess their expected number of registrations in their new gTLD.
So to wrap it all up:
Despite the fact that many parties have an interest in amending or changing the wording in DAG 4, and some parties have an interest in postponing the new gTLD program altogether, it is my impression that the directors and the board of ICANN will stick to their time plan this time. Otherwise, they will seriously lose prestige…
NEW GTLDS ARE COMING – and ICANN is preparing for 400-500 new gTLDs.
I look forward to the ICANN Bruxelles Meeting June 20-25.
DAG4 supposedly is the final DAG, and the final applicant guidebook, to be ammensed after a comment period following the ICANN meeting late June in Bruxelles, is expected to be published in Q3, 2010.
The launch date - or rather the opening of the application window (45 days) is expected to be announced around October 2010. In other words my guess is that the timeline for the introduction of new gTLDs is as follows:
New Timeline
DAG4 comment period July-September
Applicant Guidebook and launch date: October 2010
ICANN promotion tour/campaign - October-February 2011
Application window: March or April 2011
Launch of new gTLDs - Q1 2012-Q3 2012.
Interestingly ICANN is expecting 400-500 new gTLDs (their budget is based on these assumptions)
What has been added changed in DAG4 (DAG3 was published October 2009)?
DAG4:
IP Protection:Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) (Fast track UdRP procedure; electronic filing, max 5,000 words; costs 300 USD link to WHOIS and copy of infringing part of website, registry locks domain within 24 hours and registrant has 20 days to respond. Decision within 3 days – max 14 days. Remedy: frozen domain name until expiry date.
Sunrise Phases for trademark owners (based on word trademarks registered prior to 26 June 2008) or
Trademark Claim Notices (where registrants are being noticed - with a link to the trademark clearing house – that they are about to infringe on others’ rights
The Trademark Clearinghouse (TM Clearinghouse) for word trademarks registered before 26 June 2008
The Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Proposal (PDDRP)
Geographical Names
Capitals who want to apply for .city (i.e. .london) are now to get support by state governments in terms of letter of support/endorsement or letter of support
(previously a letter of non-objection from city
authorities was sufficiant)
In case a city is both a city, and a region (i.e. .berlin, .basel) the applicant must prove support/non objection from both state, regional, and city governments.
Contry names (IDN or Roman Characters) are NOT allowed as new gTLDs
Public Comment Periods related to applications
Icann will implement Public comment periods (45 days) for potential comments or criticisms, and objections against applications for new gTLDs.
These comments will be included in the evaluation of potential conflicts (contention sets, community priority evalutaions etc.).
Restrictions on Registrar Cross-Ownership
Icann will not accept applications from ICANN accredited registrars or any of their affiliates under their control (currently defined by a 2 % ownership limit or otherwise controlled).
To a brand owner this may be of relevance, as a brand owner applying for a .brand gTLD will have to pursue the following set up:
Registry: Brand Company - supported by a registry operator service provider who is not an ICANN accredited registrar, to whom the brand owner is used to outsource the management of their domain name portfolio.
Registrar: ICANN accredited registrars - in principle equal access for all ICANN registrars.
Registrant: The brand company (or possible also daughter companies, affiliates, customers, employees etc.
Thus in case a brand owner is looking for a “one-stop” service provider (registrar, registry backend provider, DNS hosting etc.) this will not possible with the current ICANN regulations on maximum 2 % Cross Ownership.
A brand owner would now how to engage with both a registry backend provider and an ICANN accredited registrar in order to operate and register gTLDs in its own TLD.
Within the Virtual Integration Working Group under GNSO at ICANN an attempt is in progress to formulate an alternative policy that may or may not allow ICANN accredited registrars to also offer registry services (everything from zero to 100 % cross ownership is being suggested).
My guess is, however, that a compromise on 15 % cross ownership limits may eventually be implemented in the final guide book.
This will, no doubt, be a very hot topic at the next ICANN Meeting in Bruxelles later this month.
Payment Terms:
Applicants are now to pay 5,000 USD in deposit, when signing up for the application process. (To avoid “frivolous access to the application system.”) Overall application costs (ex. potential extended review evaluation fees and potential objection handling fees and potential auction costs…) are still USD 185,000).
Evaluation of Applicants (2.1. Background Check in DAG4)
ICANN will perform background checks on the individuals involved in any new gTLD. The criteria for investigation carried out by a third party will cover areas such as: Money Laundring, Terrorism, Serious and organized crime, arms trafficking and war crimes as well as intellectual property violations.
I believe that an applicant will not pass the background check if he or she has been involved in any of these activities (! It is stated that applicants are checked for these areas…) it is however certain that one will not qualify if; one has been found liable for cybersquatting or felony related to financial activities.
This should give brand owners a very high degree of certainty that cybersquatters having lost UdRP cases (I guess that is the criteria) can apply for a gTLD.
Two Character IDN gTLDs are now allowed!
For ASCII (or “LHD”: Latin letter, hyphen,digit) characters still a minimum of three characters are required in the new gTLD string. “I.e. “.car, ” whereas IDN strings (as long as they do not cause confusion or are too similar or identical to Latin Characters) are allowed in only two characters. This will enable i.e. Chinese regions to apply for their geographical names (typically only two characters) as a an IDN gTLD. Furthermore it allows for a number of two character generic terms in non Latin scripts.
Enhanced technical and security requirements:
ICANN has a number of areas related to technical set up, performance of systems, servers and security measures. In general a very strict and detailed description of the technical set up is required, which will make it difficult for new entries in the registry backend provider business or at least create large administrative burdens for single applicants or for registry providers supporting few applicants…
Budget period and proof of funds reduced from five to three years
Letter of Credit (LOC) reduced from five ( or end of registry agreement) to three years.
although it will be difficult to assess or estimate the revenue in such a changing marketplace, where the number of competitors is completely unknown, by lowering the requirements for the LOC from five to three years funding, ICANN has made it easier to prove financial solidity.
This part of the application is kept confidential. It would, however, be interesting reading to see how different applicants assess their expected number of registrations in their new gTLD.
So to wrap it all up:
Despite the fact that many parties have an interest in amending or changing the wording in DAG 4, and some parties have an interest in postponing the new gTLD program altogether, it is my impression that the directors and the board of ICANN will stick to their time plan this time. Otherwise, they will seriously lose prestige…
NEW GTLDS ARE COMING – and ICANN is preparing for 400-500 new gTLDs.
I look forward to the ICANN Bruxelles Meeting June 20-25.
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Completed Fast Track String Evaluation
Some of the countries/territories which have applied for an IDN ccTLD string has passed the String Evaluation.
The IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process was approved by the ICANN Board at its annual meeting in Seoul, South Korea on 30 October 2009.
The IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process was approved by the ICANN Board at its annual meeting in Seoul, South Korea on 30 October 2009.
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Saturday, 13 March 2010
Status after ICANN meeting in Nairobi
No EOI - Expression of Interest.
No registry/registrar integration so far.
Yes to URS - uniformed rapid suspension system - recommended by IRT.
Yes to Post Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedures - also recommended by IRT.
DAG4 expected before ICANN meeting in Bruxelles.
3 character (IDNs) issues can be solved case by case - i.e. .music is two characters in Chinese, Japanese etc.
Variant issues will be further investigated.
Timeline: Taken public comment periode into account after DAG4 we expect first application round in Q1/Q2 2011 and presumably first delegations in Q2 2012
No registry/registrar integration so far.
Yes to URS - uniformed rapid suspension system - recommended by IRT.
Yes to Post Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedures - also recommended by IRT.
DAG4 expected before ICANN meeting in Bruxelles.
3 character (IDNs) issues can be solved case by case - i.e. .music is two characters in Chinese, Japanese etc.
Variant issues will be further investigated.
Timeline: Taken public comment periode into account after DAG4 we expect first application round in Q1/Q2 2011 and presumably first delegations in Q2 2012
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Expression of Interest
ICANN boards goal is to make a decision at the Nairobi meeting 7-12 March. If decided it it will presumeably be a binding for applicants to seek Expression of Interest
Thursday, 28 January 2010
Friday, 22 January 2010
IDN ccTLDs
Four IDN ccTLDs has completed the string evaluation - 3 arabic and one in cyrillic. Read more here
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
Sunday, 20 December 2009
Pre applications on new TLD's - Expression of Interest
ICANN is now opening for public comments on the pre-application phase mentioned earlier on this blog. You can read more here.
Highlights of the draft EOI / pre-registration model:
* Participation in the EOI is mandatory for eligibility to submit a gTLD application in the first round. Subsequent application rounds will be open to any eligible applicants.
* A deposit of US$55,000 is required for the EOI, and will be used as a credit against the US$185,000 evaluation fee.
* The deposit is refundable if the New gTLD Program does not launch within a specific time period. Details will be outlined in the final EOI model.
* Participants are notified that there may be subsequent amendments to the Draft Applicant Guidebook. It is the intention to conclude many current open issues prior to initiation of the EOI process.
* A fully executed communications campaign, intended to ensure global awareness about the EOI, will precede the opening of the process.
* Participants will be required to provide specific information concerning the participating entity and the requested string.
* The participant and string information will be made public.
* The EOI launch is conditional on the conclusion of many of the outstanding issues, for example, issues concerning vertical separation and the IDN three-character string requirements. Solutions for these and other issues are expected to be included in the Draft Applicant Guidebook, version 4.
When?
* The ICANN Board will be considering the draft EOI model and the community feedback during its meeting in February, 2010. If the Board decides that this is the path forward, staff will publish the final model along with instructions for a specific launch date.
Can an entity that does not participate in the EOI still be eligible to apply when the New gTLD Program officially launches?
* Yes, but not in the first round. According to the proposed draft model, participation in the EOI is mandatory for eligibility in the first new gTLD application round. There will be future opportunities to apply, however, the dates are not yet available.
Highlights of the draft EOI / pre-registration model:
* Participation in the EOI is mandatory for eligibility to submit a gTLD application in the first round. Subsequent application rounds will be open to any eligible applicants.
* A deposit of US$55,000 is required for the EOI, and will be used as a credit against the US$185,000 evaluation fee.
* The deposit is refundable if the New gTLD Program does not launch within a specific time period. Details will be outlined in the final EOI model.
* Participants are notified that there may be subsequent amendments to the Draft Applicant Guidebook. It is the intention to conclude many current open issues prior to initiation of the EOI process.
* A fully executed communications campaign, intended to ensure global awareness about the EOI, will precede the opening of the process.
* Participants will be required to provide specific information concerning the participating entity and the requested string.
* The participant and string information will be made public.
* The EOI launch is conditional on the conclusion of many of the outstanding issues, for example, issues concerning vertical separation and the IDN three-character string requirements. Solutions for these and other issues are expected to be included in the Draft Applicant Guidebook, version 4.
When?
* The ICANN Board will be considering the draft EOI model and the community feedback during its meeting in February, 2010. If the Board decides that this is the path forward, staff will publish the final model along with instructions for a specific launch date.
Can an entity that does not participate in the EOI still be eligible to apply when the New gTLD Program officially launches?
* Yes, but not in the first round. According to the proposed draft model, participation in the EOI is mandatory for eligibility in the first new gTLD application round. There will be future opportunities to apply, however, the dates are not yet available.
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