ICANN’s board of directors has once again postponed the resolution on the issue of protection of intergovernmental organization names in the new gTLDs. This is a source of controversy between Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) and Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). GAC members believe that full names of international organizations and their abbreviations should be protected and be available for registration in the new domains only for these organizations. GNSO considers such a measure to be unnecessary and insists that the same mechanism should apply towards international organizations that is used towards trademark owners. According to it, the right holder (in this case, international organization) has a priority right for a registration of the “eponymous” domain name during 90 days. In case of refusal to exercise this right, anyone can register this domain name.
The problem is not speculative. On the one hand, ICANN does not want cybersquatters to extort money from international organizations, by registering corresponding domains ahead of them (“quickness” of international structures is well-known). On the other hand, many organizations of this type are very unlikely to be tidbits for cybersquatters, but acronyms of their names coincide with English words of general usage and might be of great interest for honest registrants in new domain zones. For instance, World Health Organization and Institute for Development and Electoral Assistance have WHO and IDEA for their acronyms, respectively.
ICANN’s board of directors took a break; it announced that additional consultations with members of GNSO and GAC are required. However, observers expect the decision any time soon, because GNSO and GAC managed to overcome the main contradictions and reach a compromise. As expected, in the compromised version full protection will be granted to international governmental organizations, International Olympic Committee and the Red Cross. International nongovernmental organizations will receive protection for their full names and a 90-day mechanism will work in respect of the acronyms.
