ICANN sent out a huge amount of new TLD material late last week, which killed my weekend. On the whole, it’s very thorough, even though important information (e.g., filing dates) is not yet provided. And, despite being quite complicated in parts, for the most part it’s quite clear. Preliminary congratulations to ICANN staff.

I’ll be going through all of the Guide and its accompanying Explanatory Memoranda here over the next few days/weeks, but here are some of the high-level highlights:

• Application fee: $185,000 (estimated)
• ICANN bases its fee on the expectation of 500 applications. This appears a bit excessive, but within range of previous estimates.
• Annual fee to ICANN of $75,000 or 5% of registration revenue, whichever is higher, to be paid quarterly. ICANN provides no cost-justification for this amount, which will kill some worthy but not high-volume registries. If there’s one thing that stands out as wrong, this is it.
• If ICANN or its creatures don’t like/trust your registry software, they can ask for an extended review (RSTEP), which could cost you an estimated $50,000
• If there’s objection or contention to your application, your fees could go up considerably, in some cases by as much as $220,000, even higher. (The good news: it will cost the other guy a lot too.)
• You’ll have to provide financial guarantees that you can keep the registry going for 3 - 5 years if for some reason you fail
• If your application is rejected after the initial evaluation, you may get a refund (amount not specified)
• Application opening and closing dates are still not set
• The application is a one-time deal — you can’t add to it after submitting it
• If you’re missing anything from your application, it will be rejected, and you may forfeit much if not all of the application fee
• For competing applications, the ICANN “string contention” algorithm is way complicated. They might have easily called it “string theory.” To be untangled, if possible, in a later post.
• The application filing, objection and contention procedures, just about everything, has to be done using ICANN’s workflow software, dubbed TAS (TLD Application System). Another expensive item.
• Your TLD must be at least 3 characters in length, and no more than 63
• An objection may be filed on the grounds of “morality and public order.” ICANN has little to say about what this might entail: they don’t say what it means, or who can object. They have, however, picked the International Chamber of Commerce as the dispute resolution venue. Go figure.
• ICANN has “reviewed legal systems in all ICANN regions,” which is to say, the entire world. Might this have some bearing on the high cost of applying?
• Lobbying NOT allowed: “During this entire evaluation process, applicants must not approach, or have any other person approach on their behalf, any ICANN staff member, any ICANN Board member, or any person associated with the evaluation process, including any evaluators, experts, examiners, or reviewers retained by ICANN.” This would imply that ICANN staff, Board members etc. cannot be involved with any TLD applications, but they don’t say that explicitly.

There’s lot of other stuff, including very precise rules for geographical names, changes to the base contract, objection procedures, ICANN’s “string contention” theory, and more.

Coming up before and during the ICANN meeting in Cairo, I’ll take a closer look at some of the specifics of this draft application. Remember, it can change, so if you have something to say about it, please do make a comment on the ICANN site.

I’ll be in Cairo next week to clear up a list of things that are confusing, unexplained, or unconscionable (high quarterly fee). If you can’t make it and see something you’d like me to address while I’m there, please leave a note in the comments.

Tags: ICANN, ICANN Cairo, new top-level domains, new TLDs, ICANN application, ICANN fee, ICANN process

Posted by Antony in: Domains, Guide to new TLDs