[ALAC] Board Liaison Report, March 2009

[Wendy Seltzer]

March 2009:
The Board met at the conclusion of the Mexico ICANN meeting,
http://mex.icann.org/node/2689
http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/resolutions-06mar09.htm

At that meeting, the Board approved the global policy proposal for the
allocation of the remaining IPv4 address space, chartered the IPC to
convene an implementation recommendation team on IP protection in new
gTLDs, and approved new Board Committees.  The Board congratulated
participants for a successful At-Large Summit.  They opened several
comment periods, including on Registrar Accreditation Agreement and the
Ombudsman Framework, and noted that comment is ongoing on constituency
charter renewals and new constituency proposals.

The IPC's IRT has occasioned much discussion.  It's important to note
that that group is asked to "propose solutions to the overarching issue
of trademark protection in connection with the introduction of new
gTLDs."  Those proposals must still be evaluated by the community,
including At-Large, and then reviewed by the Board.  The group is
directed to "(i) distribute its draft report by 24 April 2009 to
interested members of the community for comment, and (ii) produce a
final report to be published no later than 24 May 2009 for consideration
by the ICANN community at the Sydney meeting."  More important than
putting a member or two onto the IRT, it will be critical for the
At-Large to analyze the recommendations that group makes and provide
clear input to the Board whether the resulting recommendations are in
community interest.
<http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/resolutions-06mar09.htm#07>

Discussions continue on GNSO restructuring, IDN-ccTLD fast-track,
protection of geographic terms, and individual users in the GNSO.

--Wendy

-- 
Wendy Seltzer -- wendy at seltzer.org
Visiting Professor, American University Washington College of Law
Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/seltzer.html
http://www.chillingeffects.org/
https://www.torproject.org/