- Impact
- 3,470
As predicted, the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook (version 2) has been released at:
http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/comments-2-en.htm (scoll down)
and an analysis of the comments to the prior version has been posted at:
http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-3-18feb09-en.htm
The documents are voluminous.
I glanced at the revised draft Base Agreement, and it's clearly unacceptable as there continue to be no price caps in place to protect registrants, see section 2.9 of
http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/draft-agreement-redline-18feb09-en.pdf
This is a backdoor way of allowing existing registry operators (e.g. com/net/org/biz/info) to get unlimited pricing power of existing domain names through .tv-style tiered pricing. Obviously it seems ICANN is only listening to registry operators and prospective registry operators, given they've even LOWERED fees for registry operators (see Section 6.1) Note that price controls were a major source of comments by the public, see the bottom of page 121 to 123 of:
http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/agv1-analysis-public-comments-18feb09-en.pdf
Note in particular that Neustar (operator of .biz) is on public record (page 123) stating they want elimination of price caps for .biz under the "equitable treatment" clause of existing registry agreements if
other registries get it:
"Any material changes for the newer, no-price capped TLDs regarding vertical separation and equal access in general must be applied to NeuStar – this is required under the .biz Registry Agreement and ICANN's Bylaws. Price caps are appropriate for larger TLDs that have a much higher percentage of the market and are not appropriate for gTLDs that do not have any real market power."
If you are existing registrant, even the smaller TLDs have market power over you, as you are "locked in" to that domain name and face high switching costs (e.g. if you had operated abc.biz for 5 years, and Neustar suddenly decides to raise the renewal price to $1 million/year, that will definitely affect you, and is not something where "competitive forces" are at play).
I'll have more detailed comments once I finish reading all of the documents.
[I don't often post on this forum, but the threat of tiered pricing should worry any existing domain registrant; I would hope that concerned domain registrants voice their concerns to ICANN via the Public Comment period]
http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/comments-2-en.htm (scoll down)
and an analysis of the comments to the prior version has been posted at:
http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-3-18feb09-en.htm
The documents are voluminous.
I glanced at the revised draft Base Agreement, and it's clearly unacceptable as there continue to be no price caps in place to protect registrants, see section 2.9 of
http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/draft-agreement-redline-18feb09-en.pdf
This is a backdoor way of allowing existing registry operators (e.g. com/net/org/biz/info) to get unlimited pricing power of existing domain names through .tv-style tiered pricing. Obviously it seems ICANN is only listening to registry operators and prospective registry operators, given they've even LOWERED fees for registry operators (see Section 6.1) Note that price controls were a major source of comments by the public, see the bottom of page 121 to 123 of:
http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/agv1-analysis-public-comments-18feb09-en.pdf
Note in particular that Neustar (operator of .biz) is on public record (page 123) stating they want elimination of price caps for .biz under the "equitable treatment" clause of existing registry agreements if
other registries get it:
"Any material changes for the newer, no-price capped TLDs regarding vertical separation and equal access in general must be applied to NeuStar – this is required under the .biz Registry Agreement and ICANN's Bylaws. Price caps are appropriate for larger TLDs that have a much higher percentage of the market and are not appropriate for gTLDs that do not have any real market power."
If you are existing registrant, even the smaller TLDs have market power over you, as you are "locked in" to that domain name and face high switching costs (e.g. if you had operated abc.biz for 5 years, and Neustar suddenly decides to raise the renewal price to $1 million/year, that will definitely affect you, and is not something where "competitive forces" are at play).
I'll have more detailed comments once I finish reading all of the documents.
[I don't often post on this forum, but the threat of tiered pricing should worry any existing domain registrant; I would hope that concerned domain registrants voice their concerns to ICANN via the Public Comment period]
