[At-Large] New gTLD implementation Consultation Session London 15 July 2009

[Ross Rader]

On Jul 16, 2009, at 8:11 AM, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond wrote:

>  Jonathan Cohen, Senior Partner at Shapiro Cohen replied that this  
> was false

Jonathan has been promulgating that myth since 2000 when he sat on the  
board. Then he stated "Protecting intellectual property rights is  
written into the bylaws, deal with it" (paraphrasing, I can't readily  
find the exact quote from the transcripts...)

"Intellectual Property" is only mentioned in the bylaws in the context  
of the constituency structures and processes. No where in the bylaws  
does it state that the protection of IP and marks is in scope for the  
organization. As far as his mention of ICANN's "principles" go, I'd  
need a citation. I don't believe that there is a document that could  
be called "ICANN's Principles" and even if it does it exist, it would  
likely be non-binding. The only documents that matter in this regard  
are the Articles of Incorporation, the Bylaws and consensus policy,  
none of which could be construed as determining whether the IRT is in- 
scope or not.

/r