Changes

   

   

===ANA/Brand Owners Opposition to the new gTLD Program===

===ANA/Brand Owners Opposition to the new gTLD Program===

On August 4, 2011, ANA President and CEO  [[Bob Liodice|Robert Liodice]] wrote to [[Rod Beckstrom]], President of ICANN regarding the new generic top level domain names ([[gTLD]]s) program. In his letter, Liodice pointed out that the 400 member companies of ANA  strongly opposed ICANN's plan to add unlimited number of TLD. The organization believed that the program does not provide benefit to the internet community but it will only cause harm and damage to brand owners and to consumers. According to him, once the program is implemented it will increase the incidence of [[cybersquatting]] and other cyber crimes. He cited that ANA conducted a research and found that the proposed TLD expansion is not supported by majority of businesses, consumers, academics including private and government agencies. He also quoted the statement of former ICANN Chairman [[Esther Dyson]] that the new program is "way for registries and registrars to make money, there are huge trademark issues, it is offensive and will create a lot of litigation." In addition, Liodice enumerated some sections of the ''Economic Considerations in the Expansion of Generic-Top Level Domain Names, Phase II Reports: Case Studies''wherein the experts opined that there is no scarcity of gTLds, the last ICANN TLD expansion provided little benefit thus it was a failure and the implementation of new TLD expansion may result to the following economic harms:

On August 4, 2011, ANA President and CEO  [[Bob Liodice|Robert Liodice]] wrote to [[Rod Beckstrom]], President of ICANN regarding the new generic top level domain names ([[gTLD]]s) program. In his letter, Liodice pointed out that the 400 member companies of ANA  strongly opposed ICANN's plan to add a possibly unlimited number of TLDs. The organization believed that the program does not provide benefit to the Internet community, and that it will only cause harm and damage to brand owners and to consumers. According to him, once the program is implemented it will increase the incidence of [[cybersquatting]] and other cyber crimes. He cited ANA's own research, which found that the proposed TLD expansion is not supported by a majority of businesses, consumers, academics including private and government agencies. He also quoted the statement of former ICANN Chairwoman [[Esther Dyson]] that the new program is a "way for registries and registrars to make money, there are huge trademark issues, it is offensive and will create a lot of litigation". In addition, Liodice enumerated some sections of the ''Economic Considerations in the Expansion of Generic-Top Level Domain Names, Phase II Reports: Case Studies'' wherein experts opined that there is no scarcity of gTLDs, that the last ICANN TLD expansion provided little benefit, and thus it was a failure, and that the implementation of new TLD expansion may result in the following economic harms:

* Misappropriation of Intellectual Property

* Misappropriation of [[Intellectual Property]]

* Defensive Registrations

* [[Defensive Registration]]s

* Domain Navigation Dilution

* Domain Navigation Dilution

* Increased Cybersquatting

* Increased [[Cybersquatting]]

* Reduced Investment by Intellectual Property Owners

* Reduced Investment by Intellectual Property Owners

* Losses from Failed TLDs

* Losses from Failed TLDs

Liodice also claimed that international international internet governing body violated its Memorandum of Understanding with the [[Department of Commerce]] as well as the Affirmation of Commitments and the ICANN Code of Conduct. Despite Liodice's strong criticism to ICANN, he expressed the willingness of ANA to work collaboratively with ICANN to develop better solutions for the benefit of the entire internet community such as the systematic and one by one implementation of TLD. However if ICANN disregards the concerns raised by brand owners through ANA and push through with the implementation of the new gTLD program, ANA will take all measures to prevent it.<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/correspondence/liodice-to-beckstrom-04aug11-en.pdf Letter from Robert Liodice to Rod Beckstrom]</ref> <ref>[http://domainincite.com/ana-chief-calls-for-new-gtlds-to-be-suspended/ ANA Chief Calls for new gTLDs to be Suspended]</ref>

Mr. Liodice also claimed that [[ICANN]] violated its [[MoU|Memorandum of Understanding]] with the [[Department of Commerce]] as well as the Affirmation of Commitments and the ICANN Code of Conduct. Despite Liodice's strong criticism to ICANN, he expressed the willingness of ANA to work collaboratively with ICANN to develop better solutions for the benefit of the entire Internet community, such as the systematic and one by one implementation of TLDs. However, he threatened that if ICANN disregards the concerns raised by brand owners through ANA and push through with the implementation of the new gTLD program, ANA will take all measures to prevent it.<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/correspondence/liodice-to-beckstrom-04aug11-en.pdf Letter from Robert Liodice to Rod Beckstrom]</ref> <ref>[http://domainincite.com/ana-chief-calls-for-new-gtlds-to-be-suspended/ ANA Chief Calls for new gTLDs to be Suspended]</ref>

===ICANN Response to ANA/Brand Owners Opposition===

===ICANN Response to ANA/Brand Owners Opposition===