Question: Would you support ICANN's adoption of TLD's which have been claimed via first use by existing managers and which are already included in other public root systems such as ORSC? Examples: .NEWS, .BIZ, .WEB, .MOV, .HOME, .MART, SEX etc.

Nominee Replies

Emerson Tiller, J.D., Ph.D. - posted on 2000-09-29 19:06:47 I believe that any existing TLD operators in other public root systems should have the right to continue operating those TLDs. I would not necessarily relieve prior use TLD's from the ICANN evaluations that other new TLDs must go through. And if they wish to enjoy features that ICANN can offer, then a right to first refusal at an auction set price would be another option. But generally, first come first serve could be applied to prior use TLDs. Harris Miller - posted on 2000-09-23 18:19:21 I agree that TLDs should be expanded. Regarding TLDs claimed by existing managers, I would proceed with some caution, wanting to see if there are dispute resolution mechanisms in place, and some means of resolving the famous marks issue. I also agree with the recent US District Court decision which held that web addresses based on unassigned domain names can not be trademarked, in this particular case highlighting .sex and .web. Rampant speculation in these domain names does not benefit the Net, the user communinity.