CONFERENCE CALL
ICANN MEETING, PRAGUE, JUNE 25 TO 28
In Prague, Fadi Chehade introduced himself as the organisation’s new CEO, while the Intellectual Property Constituency took a look at IP issues around new gTLDs.
Fadi Chehade, a former general manager at IBM and chief executive officer of various technology companies, used his welcome speech to set out his priorities. He praised the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for its generosity, and highlighted the role of the Internet in the Arab spring. “It is the greatest public giſt,” he said.
Chehade, who replaces Rod Beckstrom as CEO, promised that he would “build consensus”. “Inclusion starts by stepping out of the organisation and looking at it from the outside, not being inside and seeing everything our way,” he said.
He highlighted two particular areas which
ICANN needs to focus on. “ICANN is an international organisation and we must strive to make it international,” he said, emphasising that international is not just a buzzword but should mean real engagement with stakeholders from around the world.
Second, he underlined that ICANN works under different pressures from most organisations, and is under more pressure to excel as a result. “We must be expected to do five times better, 10 times better than the commercial world,” he said. “Tis is critical to who we are.” And with the expansion of the Internet in the form of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), this excellence is even more important.
He finished his speech with three key pledges: “Number one, I will listen, I will listen to all of you. We may not always agree, and we shouldn’t. Tis is what the model is. But I will listen.
“Number two, I will be very transparent, super transparent. Is there a bigger word? Extra transparent.
“And, lastly, I will make all my decisions for the public interest.”
ICANN’s Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC) met to discuss the impact of the gTLD roll-out on its stakeholders, as well as plans to further engage with ICANN leadership.
Te IPC has to represent all its members, which means those who have participated in the gTLD programme and the many who haven’t.
Steve Metalitz, president of the IPC and counsel to the International Intellectual Property Alliance, reported on informal meetings held between the IPC leadership and new gTLD applicants, aiming to get a sense of what issues might crop up in the future and to gauge their attitudes to IP concerns.
Metalitz said he had been “impressed” with the general awareness and attitude of the applicants, but noted that there was plenty of work leſt to do.
“Some thought had gone into how best to structure these new gTLDs to minimise IP problems and
16 World Intellectual Property Review July/August 2012
respond to them promptly, [and] prevent them if possible, as some enhanced rights protection mechanisms were discussed,” he said. He further called on the members of the IPC to ensure that they raised any problems with any of the protection mechanisms in the new applications before the proposed deadline of August 12.
A couple of issues arose from the generally positive comments about the attitude of applicants, including the fact that many of the mechanisms proposed were dependent on external influences, such as clearing for the operation of the Uniform Rapid Suspension. Mike Rodenbaugh of eBay suggested that the IPC go through the applications in an attempt to understand and develop best practice on IP for future applicants, and it was further suggested that this work could be done in partnership with INTA’s Internet committee.
Tere was also discussion about the Trademark Clearinghouse, with several contributors raising concerns about the pricing associated with it. Jan Corstens of Deloitte, who will be involved in running the Clearinghouse, introduced himself and underlined that the current proposed pricing is based on maximum estimates, but that those running it are keen to do further work on the key issues with the IPC and other interested parties.
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