Join ICANN’s Discussion on the Resolution of Contention Sets in the Next Round

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) organization will hold a community-wide discussion on the resolution of contention sets in the New Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD) Program: Next Round. A contention set is a group of gTLD applications that contain identical strings of characters. For example, if two different applicants apply for .TLDSTRING, they would be identified as a contention set.

Virtual meetings will be held on 13 and 14 August 2024 at 13:00–15:00 UTC via Zoom. Two additional meetings, which may be held if more time is needed, are scheduled for 21 and 22 August 2024 at 13:00–15:00 UTC.

The dialogue on the topic comes at the direction of the ICANN Board of Directors, which accepted Advice item 2a(ii) of the Governmental Advisory Committee's (GAC) ICANN80 Kigali Communiqué.

The goal of the discussion will be to consider which mechanisms should be established for the resolution of contention sets in the next round of applications for new gTLDs. The mechanism must be consistent with existing policy, operationally viable, agreeable to the community, and not have an impact on the current timeline for implementation.

To ensure that the concerns expressed in the ICANN80 Kigali Communiqué and related GAC and At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) advice are addressed, the discussion will focus on two issues related to the resolution of contention sets:

1. Alternatives to private auctions for the voluntary private resolution of contention sets by applicants.
2. Alternatives to the ICANN auction of last resort as the mechanism to resolve contention sets in the absence of any private resolution.

The Board plans to review the outcome of the community-wide discussion during its workshop 6–8 September 2024. It will then provide the ICANN organization (org) with any necessary direction on the implementation of the resolution of contention sets.

This community discussion is open to everyone in the community. To participate, please submit this form or email nextround_policyimplementation@icann.org. All participants must agree to abide by the ICANN Expected Standards of Behavior, and sign into Zoom using their full name.

Participants should familiarize themselves with the relevant Final Report on the New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Policy Development Process recommendations, the relevant GAC and ALAC advice, as well as the report "Addressing Monetary Means of Private Resolution" by NERA, among other resources.

ICANN org will also prepare a briefing, which summarizes the issues and provides some potential approaches, to facilitate discussion. The briefing document will be published on the workspace no later than Friday, 9 August 2024.