[At-Large] Board/GAC - subject matter experts: how selected ? (Fwd: [NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS] ICANN announcement on Board-GAC meeting - perhaps IPC "experts" get to speak also?)

Adam Peake ajp at glocom.ac.jp
Sat Jan 22 19:43:44 UTC 2011


Robin Gross makes a good point.

Hope ALAC will advise that experts representing a balance of views are
invited to speak.

Adam


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Robin Gross <robin at ipjustice.org>
Date: Sun, Jan 23, 2011 at 4:05 AM
Subject: [NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS] ICANN announcement on Board-GAC meeting -
perhaps IPC "experts" get to speak also?
To: NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS at listserv.syr.edu


http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-21jan11-en.htm
Note the following text from the ICANN press release:
  "... Only GAC members, ICANN Board members, select ICANN staff
members and subject matter experts will participate in the
discussion..."
Does this mean the Board/GAC will hear from representatives of the
intellectual property industry (since this meeting is in response to
the lobbying that the IPC has done to various government
representatives for more trademark rights)?
That would be terribly one-sided and unfair if this meeting goes down
that path - another forum for the IPC to lobby the board (and only the
IPC gets to present its views?)
Who decides what "subject matter experts" will be invited - staff,
IPC, Board, GAC???
This announcement provides more questions than answers.
Best,
Robin


ICANN's Board and GAC to Meet on New gTLDs

21 January 2011

During the recent ICANN meeting in Cartagena, the ICANN Board of
Directors and Governmental Advisory Committee agreed to meet at some
time prior to the upcoming Silicon Valley/San Francisco meeting in
order to devote significant time in the interest of resolving the
outstanding issues the GAC has identified with the new gTLD process.

Planning for that meeting has occurred and the Board and the GAC have
agreed to meet on 28 February and 1 March 2011, in Brussels, at the
Square Brussels Meeting Centre, Mont des Arts – Kunstberg, Brussels.

The purpose of the meeting is to:

Identify the specific differences between Governmental Advisory
Committee ("GAC") advice and the current implementation of the GNSO
New gTLD Policy recommendations embodied in the Applicant Guidebook.
Through discussion among Board and GAC members, either:

arrive at an agreed upon resolution of those differences, or
for those issues not resolved, identify what differences remain. This
meeting is not intended to address the requirements/steps outlined in
the Bylaws mandated Board-GAC consultation process.

The meeting will be open, scribed and streamed live over the Internet.
Only GAC members, ICANN Board members, select ICANN staff members and
subject matter experts will participate in the discussion, whether in
person or remotely. It will be possible for interested parties to
attend and observe proceedings.  Remote participation facilities will
also be made available.

Papers to inform the discussions will be published prior to the
meeting. Details of the agenda and logistics will be made available
closer to the meeting.

Background

ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) plays a key role within
ICANN, particularly with regard to providing advice to the Board on
public policy issues. The GAC has been actively involved in the
discussions on the introduction of new gTLDs and has regularly
provided advice to the ICANN Board on a number of issues, which the
Board has sought to address. The most recent GAC communiqué [PDF, 45
KB] identified a number of issues associated with the introduction of
new gTLDs that the GAC considers outstanding, or unresolved to the
GAC's satisfaction.

The new gTLD program has its origins in carefully deliberated policy
development work by the ICANN community. In October 2007, following
more than 18 months of community discussions, the GNSO formally
completed its policy development work on new gTLDS and approved a set
of 19 policy recommendations. In June 2008, ICANN's Board of Directors
adopted the policy recommendations and directed staff to commence work
on an implementation plan.

The first version of the Applicant Guidebook was posted for public
comment on 1 October 2008, and since that time a further four versions
have followed with the most recent, the Proposed Final Applicant
Guidebook published on 10 November 2010. Each version has been revised
as a result of comments received via the respective public comment
fora. The ICANN meeting in Cartagena provided the platform for
discussion of the latest version, and provided an opportunity for the
Board to hear first hand, the community's views.


IP JUSTICE
Robin Gross, Executive Director
1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA  94117  USA
p: +1-415-553-6261    f: +1-415-462-6451
w: http://www.ipjustice.org     e: robin at ipjustice.org




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