NTIA Supports New Domains – Phased In, With Protection

By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch

The US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has announced its support for additional policies for new generic top-level domains on the internet, with conditions. The Commerce Department agency will stick to the 12 January start of the application period for new domains, but it has requested that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) take additional precautions when opening up the process.

In a 3 January letter [pdf], the NTIA requested ICANN “to minimize the perceived need for defensive registration” by industry and to undertake better education about the programme before 12 January. It also demanded that ICANN promptly implement its commitments for law enforcement and consumer protection.

Trademark owners represented in several associations like the Coalition for Responsible Internet Domain Oversight (CRIDO) and the Coalition against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) have hammered home their concerns in several congressional hearings and a meeting with the NTIA over the past four weeks. The latest CADNA letter is here.

NTIA, which has been supportive of the six-year ICANN process to define the applicant guidebook, now announced that it will consult with stakeholders and governments on additional protections for second-level domain names once the first list of applicants becomes available. ICANN should at that point also consider how to “phase in” the process, NTIA said, in answer to some trademark owners’ and politicians’ calls to slow down the new domain process.