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ICANN Nairobi Concludes 37th Meeting in Nairobi

ICANN recently concluded their 37th meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. Although many chose not to travel due to security and cost concerns, remote participation locations from both San Francisco (MarkMonitor’s offices) and Reston, Virginia were well attended.
 
A number of important issues were addressed by ICANN’s Board, including decisions to:

• Not proceed with an Expression of Interest (EOI) model which would have required that all entities wishing to apply for a new gTLD during the first round to submit basic information including the requested string and a fee of $55,000
• Uphold status quo supporting the strict separation of entities offering registry services and those acting as registrars so that no co-ownership is allowed, unless a new policy is developed prior to the launch of new gTLDs
• Incorporate the Trademark Clearinghouse, Uniform Rapid Shutdown (URS), Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure (PDDRP) and  Registry Restriction Dispute Resolution Procedure (RRDRP) into the fourth version of the Draft Applicant Guidebook
• Finalize a report of possible process options for further consideration of .XXX
• Launch a formal communications program around the launch of new gTLDs when the all of the “Overarching Issues” are resolved

While timelines for the launch of new gTLDs were still not provided, ICANN staff did disclose their intent to release the next version of the Draft Applicant Guidebook (DAG4) prior to the ICANN Meeting in Brussels at the end of June. When questioned, ICANN staff said that DAG4 is intended to be the last draft version prior to the final.