Luxembourg’s .lu domains can now be locked for a year in disputes

.Lu provides new lock in case of domain dispute. Country code operators are not required to offer a cybersquatting resolution service, although many adopt some form of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). Luxembourg takes a more hands of approach. But starting next month it will implement a locking option to stop a …

GAC Advice on .africa application fails to address vital concerns

Beijing 46th meeting was the platform that was used to post the ICANN GAC advice, which is a requirement of the new gTLD progress for all the new applications.  GAC is an advisory body to ICANN. Though their advice came slightly after the deadline since the new gTLD program guideline clearly indicates in Module 3: …

Kuek Yu-Chuang a Technology Policy Expert to Lead ICANN’s Asia Engagement Strategy

Kuek Yu-Chuang a Technology Policy Expert to Lead Los Angeles, California… Kuek Yu-Chuang, a leading executive in technology policy development has been named Vice President for Global Stakeholder Engagement for the Asia Region. He will assume the role on August 1st, 2013. Kuek has served most recently as a Senior Director for Yahoo! Inc., where …

ICANN Appoints First Two New gTLD Data Escrow Agents

Iron Mountain Intellectual Property Management, Inc. and NCC Group have been approved by ICANN to provide data escrow services to new gTLD registry operators. All new gTLD registry operators will be required to regularly deposit a backup copy of their TLD registration data through one of the approved data escrow service providers. The data held …

NomCom Receives Largest Number of Applicants Since 2003

The 2013 Nominating Committee application period closed on Wednesday, 15 May 2013 at 23:59 UTC. At the deadline, the NomCom had received 110 Statements of Interest, more than in any one year after 2003, when there were also 110. This year, there are 12 candidates from Africa, 30 are from Asia/Australia/Pacific Islands, 32 are from …

Bartleby’s Prefers Not to See Amazon Run Web Books Domain

Herman Melville’s character Bartleby the scrivener famously said he “would prefer not to,” and 160 years later the owner of Bartleby’s Books would prefer not to see Amazon (AMZN).com Inc. control Internet addresses ending in .book. “I would just hate to see the cultural process that books represent be controlled by a single firm,” John …

GAC Advice largely unworkable

The position of GAC and its importance in the ICANN new gTLD progress is being placed in a very tight spot over the relevance and the practicability of the recommendations that it has offered on the new gTLD applications and more specifically the Safeguard Advice. GAC entered ICANN as one of the arms that would …

Microsoft files to recover Xbox One domain

Microsoft has started the process to recover the XboxOne.com and XboxOne.net domains, according to a report by Fusible. The Redmond, Washington, software giant has filed a claim with the National Arbitration Forum, a body that functions similarly to a court, to settle the domain ownership dispute. The claim is being made against a London resident …