It’s sad to see the ANA so engaged in opposing new TLDs & the ICANN process now that ICANN is already taking applications. The ANA’s leadership continues to do their members a disservice. I don’t know the leadership of the ANA but if part of the ANA’s association charter is to advocate for their members, they have been derelict in their duty. They need new leadership badly.
Advocacy involves studying important issues while they are in the process of being proposed. It is knowing the issues before their emergence. Strong advocacy requires a PROactive stance. The ANA’s stance has been nothing short of REactive. They are in emergency mode and continue to threaten costly and unproductive legal battles because they ignored domain names and ICANN for so many years.
I have watched ICANN go through at least three rounds of new TLD introductions since 2001. All decisions to introduce new TLDs have been open and public. There have been hundreds of Intellectual Property Attorneys and consultants at these meetings but I can’t recall any comments or ideas from the ANA since June of 2008 (until the past few months). In fact, there were advocates for new TLDs in Sao Paolo, Brazil in 2006. There has been plenty of time (at least 6 years) for any stakeholder to get involved and affect the process.
It’s time for the ANA to stop fighting new TLDs on the basis of not having the chance to participate. They had the chance. But more important, if the ANA cares about their members, they need to begin showing them the benefits and opportunities that new TLDs can bring.
I suppose that the ANA is right in one way; some brands will be blindsided. But it won’t be in the way they expect. In fact, there are many trademark defenses already built into ICANN’s new TLD program. Under existing laws and with the UDRP, rapid Take Down Programs, and Trademark Clearinghouses, brands will be able to protect their trademarks.
What will happen is the brands will watch on the sidelines as their generic product category TLDs will be taken up by entrepreneurs and opportunists who kept abreast of the program since the start; something the ANA should have been doing for their members all along.
Read the story… | Source: ANA.Net | Date posted: 2/7/2012
ANA Do Not Sell Proposal FAQ… | Source: ANA.net | Date posted: 2/7/2012
Read the story… | Source: B to B Online | Date posted: 2/7/2012
