The document contained herein is a work-in-progress and will be revised in the near future.  The founding members of this IP Constituency organizing effort welcome the participation of all interested parties and look forward to receiving comments.

Background

This document is intended to set out a framework for the structure and procedural rules of the Intellectual Property (IP) Constituency of the Domain Name Supporting Organization and is proposed to serve as the foundation for discussion among interested IP stakeholders. The drafters of this document include members of many of the major international IP organizations which collectively represent tens of thousands of IP rightholders, IP practitioners, business owners and domain name holders around the world and who recognize the need to reach out to other such entities and persons who share these interests to participate in the further refinement of this document.

The Toronto meeting was organized by FICPI to attract as many IP organizations, or those interested in the process to initiate the process mandated by the ICANN Board at its meeting in Singapore in early March, when it advised the international IP community to begin work immediately on the organization of an IP Constituency for the DNSO. The goal of that meeting was to bring together an initial group of international IP organizations that was as broadly representative of the various facets of IP interests as possible given the short time frame, and which group would collectively have the resources necessary to accomplish two things:

1.  to reach out to any other interested IP groups, IP organizations or individuals with IP interests around the world and encourage them to participate in the process of IP Constituency formation, and

2.  to set up the consultative process itself for the inclusive, international discussion required to formulate the IP Constituency proposal to be submitted to the ICANN Board for approval at its next meeting in Berlin on May 27, 1999.

The next step in the IP Constituency formation process was the New Zealand meeting where the Toronto document was discussed and openly debated among the participants, and this revised draft that reflects the Wellington consultative meeting (the Wellington document) was then prepared and will be once again circulated and posted on the ICANN website (www.icann.org) for international consultation that is intended to culminate in a final, third meeting scheduled for May 4-5 in New York City. By this point the views of all interested IP stakeholders will have been repeatedly solicited and hopefully, fully expressed, such that the final draft coming out of the third consultative meeting and submitted to ICANN for approval, will adequately reflect the interests of IP stakeholders properly included in the IP Constituency. It is intended that an operational IP Constituency structure with duly elected interim governance be in place for presentation to ICANN for accreditation.

I.  Mission Statement and Purpose

a.  The IP Constituency will form an integral part of the Domain Name Supporting Organization (DNSO) according to Article VI-b, Section 3 of the ICANN Bylaws.

 

b.  The purpose of the IP Constituency is to represent the views and interests of users of the world-wide intellectual property systems with particular emphasis on trade-mark, copyright, and related intellectual property rights and their effect and interaction with the Domain Name System (DNS), and to ensure that these views and interests are reflected in the recommendations made by the Names Council to the Board of ICANN. The representation of the IP Constituency will primarily be through IP organizations recognized as qualified to represent a broad range of interests and having NGO status at WIPO and through a general membership organization. In addition, the Intellectual Property Constituency will invite comments from a broad range of interested parties, including other SOs, and other DNSO constituencies through a consultative observer mechanism and periodic online and face-to-face meetings.

1.  the IP organizations meeting the qualifications under section III;
2.  an at-large members' organization pursuant to the provisions of section III;
3.  Observers as referred to in section 1b above.
 

b.  Three members of the IP Constituency shall be nominated by and elected from the IP member organizations to represent the constituency on the Names Council of the DNSO. No organization shall have more than one of its nominated representatives on the Names Council at one time.

c. The governing body of the IP Constituency shall be the IP Constituency Council (IPCC) composed of [x] members that will be responsible for:
 

i)  reviewing applications for membership in the IP Constituency;

ii)  carrying out through members of the Council or appointment of volunteers, the administrative functions associated with the operations of the IP Constituency and the IPCC, including the arrangement of meetings, taking of minutes, maintenance of an appropriate mechanism suitable for facilitating contact and dissemination of information among all members of the IP Constituency and other secretariat functions;

iii)  formulating membership consensus on policy issues for the purpose of advising the IP Constituency representatives on the Names Council;

iv)  developing mechanisms for the nomination and election of representatives to the IPCC and Names Council from among the members of the IP Constituency, and modifying same from time to time as may be required to ensure fairness and to reflect the current needs of the IP Constituency;

v)  assessing and collecting membership fees.
 

c)  Members of the IPCC shall be elected for a period of [2] years and the Chairperson shall rotate at the end of the 2 year period. (Consensus in Wellington).

d)  No person may serve as a member of the Names Council for more than two successive terms. A term of service as an Interim representative of the IP Constituency to the Names Council shall not be considered a successive term for the purposes of this section.

e)  An Interim IPCC shall be appointed and Interim representatives of the IP Constituency to the Names Council shall be elected by IP organizations of the IP Constituency, in the following manner:
 

A)  Interim IPCC:
 

i)  each founding organization will nominate two persons to sit on the Interim IPCC (IIPCC);

ii) the IIPCC members to serve until such time as a more formal nomination and voting structure is established and proper elections may be held; the IIPCC shall be replaced in that manner on, at the discretion of the IIPCC, before December 31, 2000.;

iii) the nominees in i) above will constitute the Interim IPCC;

iv) the mandate of the IPCC shall include:
 

a) to promptly meet in person, online, by telephone conference or some combination of the foregoing and elect a President, Vice-President and Secretary;

b) to immediately arrange for a process for electing at the New York City meeting, individuals nominated to the Names Council by the founding organizations.

c) to immediately, upon ratification of this proposal by the ICANN Board, arrange to contact all prospective members and observers of the IPC;

d) to facilitate discussion amongst members and observers in order to reach as quickly as possible a "final" set of by-laws for the constituency, including an open, fair, representative and democratic method for nominatingand electing members to the IPCC and Names Council to replace the Interim representatives.

e)  to appoint if necessary, a trustee to receive and deal with any money received on behalf of the IIPC until such time as a formal method for dealing with the funds is established.

v)  the founding organizations shall make their nominations to the Interim IPCC (IIPCC), to be received in writing by 5:00 p.m. EDT April 21, 1999 at the offices of Mike Heltzer, INTA, N.Y., NY, who shall report the appointment of the IIPCC by e-mail by 5:00 p.m. April 22, 1999.
 
B.  Interim Representatives of the IP Constituency to the Names Council:
  i)  three Interim representatives from the founding organizations of the IP Constituency shall be elected to the Names Council and will serve until such time as a more formal nomination and voting structure is established by the elected IPCC which first replaces the Interim IPCC; the Interim representatives of the IP Constituency shall be replaced in that manner on or before May 31, 2001 at the discretion of the IPCC;

ii)  each founding organization may nominate one person as an Interim Names Council representative;

iii)  each founding organization that nominates a candidate for the Names Council will have three votes and the three candidates with the most votes will represent the IP Constituency on the Names Council.

iv) Founding IP organization members at April 13, 1999 are: AIPLA, APAA, AIPPI, ECTA, FICPI, INTA, and MARQUES.

v)  Any organization that applies for membership on or before April 26, 1999 [place to be determined] shall have the right to appoint 2 of its members to the IIPCC.

vi) Each nominee will have seventy-two hours to post on the IP Constituency website not more than two pages of biographical information indicating the person's qualifications, willingness and ability to fulfil the requirements of the position for which s/he is nominated. The election will take place according to the procedure decided upon by the IIPCC.

a)  The membership of the IP Constituency referred to under section II. a) 1) shall consist of IP organizations that comply with the following criteria, namely they:
 
i) shall be primarily and substantially involved in the field of IP;

ii) shall be comprised of internationally diverse ordinary members such that the organization has a significant international character;

iii) shall have at least [100] individuals in their membership;

iv)  shall be recognized as an NGO by WIPO;

v)  shall be an IP organization which makes a substantial contribution through its members or otherwise to the field of IP.
 

b)  The criteria in section a. above are cumulative, but in the event that an applicant organization fulfils the requirement under subsection a. iv), but does not in the view of the IPCC fulfil one or more of the other requirements, the IPCC may refuse membership status. Conversely, if an applicant organization does not qualify as an NGO under subsection a. iv), the IPCC may grant membership status if in its view, the applicant meets the other criteria for membership.

c)  If in the judgment of the IPCC, any organization's membership is essential to the IP Constituency, it may admit such organization despite its not otherwise qualifying for membership.

d)  Each approved member organization shall have the right to nominate one of its individual members to the IPCC and one for election to the Names Council by a process to be determined by the IPCC.

e)  The membership referred to in section II. a. 2), namely an "At-large Members organization," shall be comprised of individuals, associations and/or organizations who have an interest in the intellectual property system and its interface with the domain name system.

f)  The "At-large Membership Organization" will have the same number of representatives on the IPCC as any other IP organization which is a member pursuant to II. a. 1).

g)  Any decision by the IPCC to refuse membership will be subject to review according to a process to be determined by the IPCC in its first year.

The IP Constituency and the expenses involved in its administration may be funded through the levy of a graduated annual membership fee assessed according to a formula to be determined by the IPCC (the following are suggested fees:

a)  individual members: 95 USD
b)  at-large organization members: 1500 USD
c)  IP organizational members: 2000 USD

The voting structure is to be determined by the Interim IPCC after consultation with the membership. The voting structure shall be open, fair and not subject to capture.

VI. Observer Status and Liaison with other Constituencies / Supporting Organizations

In the interest of complying as fully as possible with the mandate of the IP Constituency as set out in Section I b., the IPCC may:

a.  seek the input on the basis of non-voting, observer status, of those organizations that are not eligible for membership in the IP Constituency pursuant to the provisions of Section III, and which organizations may properly belong to and have voting status in other DNSO constituencies or other Supporting Organizations;

b.  establish a liaison mechanism whereby it obtains input from the other DNSO constituencies and the other Supporting Organizations.

Commentary: It is the intention of the founding organizations that the IPCC reach out to the other constituencies of the DNSO, the other SO's, individual organizations (governmental, the Bar associations, public interest, technical/Internet, and business groups) and broadly to the public, encouraging their participation in and commentary on the discussions and recommendations of the IP Constituency. It is hoped that in this manner, the IP Constituency, while representing the international IP community, as it should, will have the benefit of the information and advice of a much broader cross-section of the public in reaching the decisions it communicates to the Names Council for consideration by ICANN.