President Appoints Joint Working Group for WIPO-2 Process Issues

Dr. Paul Twomey, ICANN's President, is pleased to announce a Joint Working Group concerning the results of the WIPO Second Internet Domain Name Process (WIPO-2 Process). The President was directed to appoint a Joint Working Group resulting from a Board Resolution of 2 June 2003 (text of resolution provided below) and consultation with the Generic Name Supporting Organization (GNSO) and its constituencies, the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) and the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC).

Dr. Paul Twomey, ICANN's President, is pleased to announce a Joint WorkingGroup concerning the results of the WIPO Second Internet Domain Name Process(WIPO-2 Process). The President was directed to appoint a Joint WorkingGroup resulting from a Board Resolution of 2 June 2003 (text of resolutionprovided below) and consultation with the Generic Name SupportingOrganization (GNSO) and its constituencies, the Governmental AdvisoryCommittee (GAC) and the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC).

The Joint Working Group is tasked with analyzing the practical and technicalaspects of implementing WIPO-2 Process recommendations in a mannerconsistent with ICANN's mission, and the implications for the UniformDispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).

The Joint Working Group shall initially consist of the followingindividuals:

GNSO Members - Philip Sheppard, Commercial and Business Users Constituency;Michael Froomkin, Non-Commercial Users Constituency; David Maher, gTLDRegistries Constituency; Mike Heltzer, Intellectual Property InterestsConstituency; Robert F. Connelly, Registrars Constituency; and MaggieMansourkia, Internet Service and Connectivity Providers Constituency.

GAC Members - Vanda Scartezini (BR), Christian Wichard (WIPO). Lena Carlson(SE). Jean-Christophe Chouvet (FR), Olive Chikankheni (Malawi), Richard Hill (ITU)and Martin Boyle (UK)

ALAC Members - Sebastian Ricciardi (Argentina) and Wendy Seltzer (USA)

The Joint Working Group will be chaired by Jonathan Cohen, a former memberof ICANN's Board. ICANN staff support and advice shall be provided byICANN's General Counsel, John Jeffrey (<jeffrey@icann.org>).

The Joint Working Group will report to the President on a proposed workprogram by the completion of the ICANN Meeting in Carthage, and will report to theBoard at the ICANN Meeting in Rome. The President will consider whether toadd members to the Joint Working Group by the close of the ICANN Meeting inCarthage.

As background, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) sentICANN a letter dated 21 February 2003 providing information about twodecisions, concerning recommendations about the names and acronyms ofInternational Intergovernmental Organizations and about the names ofcountries, which WIPO member states requested be transmitted to ICANN.Subsequently, the ICANN Board invited the ICANN supporting organizations andadvisory committees to make preliminary comments on the letter.

The Second Internet Domain Name Process evaluated whether procedures shouldbe instituted to address domain-name issues arising in connection withpersonal names; International Nonproprietary Names for PharmaceuticalSubstances; names of international intergovernmental organizations (IGOs);geographical indications; indications of source or geographical terms; andtradenames. After various consultative processes within WIPO, the WIPOmember states recommended that two categories of identifiers should beprotected against abusive registration as domain names, namely, the namesand acronyms of IGOs and country names (being one particular type ofgeographical identifier). Some member states disassociated themselves fromone or both of these recommendations.

In its meeting of 2 June 2003, the Board resolved:

Whereas, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) sent ICANN aletter dated 21 February 2003 providing information about two decisions,concerning recommendations about the names and acronyms of InternationalIntergovernmental Organizations and about the names of countries, which WIPOmember states requested be transmitted to ICANN;

Whereas, in resolution 03.22 the Board requested the President to inform theGovernmental Advisory Committee, the Supporting Organizations, and the otherAdvisory Committees of the 21 February 2003 letter from WIPO and to invitetheir comments;

Whereas, advice and comments were received from the At-Large AdvisoryCommittee (ALAC), the GNSO Council, the Governmental Advisory Committee(GAC), and the Intellectual Property Interests and the Commercial andBusiness Users Constituencies of the GNSO;

Whereas, the Board has considered the advice and comments received, as wellas the discussion and analysis in the 1 June 2003 General Counsel's BriefingConcerning Policy-Development Process on WIPO-2 Recommendations;

Resolved [03.83] that the President is directed to form, in consultationwith the chairs of the GNSO Council, the ALAC, and the GAC, a working groupincluding participants in the GNSO, the ALAC, and the GAC as well as Boardmembers, for the purpose of analyzing the practical and technical aspects ofimplementing the WIPO recommendations, and notably the implications for theUDRP; and

Further resolved [03.84] that the President and General Counsel are directedto investigate and analyze legal aspects of the relationship between ICANN'smission and the recommendations conveyed by the 12 February 2003 letter fromWIPO, and to report to the Board and to the working group formed underresolution 03.83 on the result of that investigation and analysis. Amongtopics to be considered should be whether implementation of the WIPOrecommendations would require ICANN to prescribe adherence to normativerules, not based on established laws, for the resolution of competingthird-party claims to rights to register names.