Participants in ICANN 47 Signing Ceremony.
Left to Right: Fadi Chehadé, ICANN; Frederic Guillemaut, Mail Club; Mouhamet Diop, Kheweul.com; Adrian Kinderis, ARI; Akram Atallah, ICANN; Ilya Bazlyankov, CORE; Paul Stahura, Donuts; Rob Hall, Momentous; James Bladel, GoDaddy; Matt Serlin, MarkMonitor.
The New generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) Program is clearly at the forefront of ICANN 47 in Durban, South Africa and during today’s Welcome Ceremony and President’s Opening Session, we witnessed a significant occasion with the signing of the recently approved 2013 Registrar Accreditation and Registry Agreements.
Numerous registrars and registries were on hand to sign the new agreements, which have been a long time coming and which embody the collective work of and collaborative efforts by the ICANN community to make this milestone possible. The agreements reflect important and essential changes that were made in response to public comments and to address contractual needs of the New gTLD Program.
We have taken a notable step forward in ensuring far greater security protections for the entire DNS ecosystem and for stakeholders alike. What lies ahead holds immense potential for continued domain name industry expansion, innovation and market success. These new agreements put in place will not only have a lasting effect on the registration process but will serve as a cornerstone for enhanced services, systems and enterprises.
In coming together and by agreeing to new contractual frameworks, registrars and registries are helping to positively shape the next era of Internet development that awaits us. The New gTLD Program will surely create new white spaces for brands and organizations to build from, and with these improved contractual provisions being enacted trademark rights holders, registrants and account holders will benefit enormously.