Historical Resolution Tracking Feature » 2004-03-06 - WLS Negotiations with VeriSign
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2004-03-06 - WLS Negotiations with VeriSign
Board approves results of negotiations with VeriSign concerning provision of WLS, and authorizes ICANN Staff and General Counsel to enter amendments to registry agreements, upon approval by U.S. Department of Commerce.
- Approve results of WLS negotiations.
- Responsible entity: ICANN Board
- Due date: None provided
- Completion date: 6 March 2004
Whereas, on 21 March 2002, VeriSign, Inc., the operator of the .com and .net registries, requested amendments to the registry agreements for those top-level domains to allow it to conduct a twelve-month trial of a proposed wait-listing service (WLS) to be offered through accredited registrars. A subsequent community consultation process prompted both strong opposition and support for the proposal from various segments of the community; <http://www.icann.org/bucharest/vgrs-wls-proposal-20mar02.pdf>
Whereas, on 23 August 2002, ICANN's Board adopted Resolution 02.100, authorizing the President and General Counsel to conduct negotiations on behalf of ICANN toward an agreement to make appropriate revisions to the .com and .net registry agreements between ICANN and VeriSign to provide for the offering of a wait-listing service as proposed by VeriSign, with six specified conditions developed based on the feedback from the community consultations; <http://www.icann.org/minutes/minutes-23aug02.htm#02.100>
Whereas, on 16 October 2002, VeriSign wrote to ICANN requesting reconsideration of the conditions specified by Resolution 02.100; <http://www.icann.org/committees/reconsideration/verisign-request-16oct02.htm>
Whereas, on 2 June 2003, ICANN's Board adopted Resolutions 03.79 and 03.80, partially granting VeriSign's request for reconsideration by revising the conditions under which ICANN would consent to modifying VeriSign's registry agreements to allow for the offering of WLS; <http://www.icann.org/minutes/minutes-02jun03.htm>
Whereas, on 26 January 2004, ICANN's General Counsel wrote to VeriSign to document the conclusion of negotiations concerning the conditions on VeriSign's proposed offering of WLS; <http://www.icann.org/correspondence/jeffrey-to-lewis-26jan04.pdf>
Whereas, .com and .net are unique among gTLDs under contract with ICANN in that Amendment 3 to the Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. Department of Commerce and ICANN <http://www.icann.org/general/amend3-jpamou-25may01.htm> contains special provisions requiring DOC approval of material amendments to the 25 May 2001 .com, .net and .org registry agreements entered into between ICANN and VeriSign.
Whereas Amendment 3 to the MoU provides that "ICANN will not enter into any material amendment of, or substitution for, said agreements, nor will said agreements be assigned by ICANN, without prior approval of the DOC.";
Resolved, [04.19] the Board approves the results of negotiations with VeriSign concerning its WLS proposal, authorizes the President and General Counsel to seek U.S. Department of Commerce approval to amend the VeriSign registry agreements to permit the offering of WLS, and authorizes the President to enter into the necessary and appropriate amendments with VeriSign if and when approved by the Department of Commerce.
- The resolution does not address funding for the items identified therein.