Changes

* [[Kurt Pritz]], ICANN Senior Vice President

* [[Kurt Pritz]], ICANN Senior Vice President

Angela Williams represented concerns of the members of the [[NPOC|Not-for-Profit Operational Concerns Constituency]] (NPOC) during the Senate hearing. In her testimony, she raised the budgetary, public confusions and cybersquatting issues. According to her, the increased risk of public confusions compromise the internet security and it would be more expensive for entities particularly not-for-profit organizations to protect their brand names/trademarks against fraud, [[cybersquatting]] and trademark infringement. She also pointed out that not-for-profit-organizations cannot afford the amount of money needed to become a domain name registry to ensure brand protection. Williams encouraged ICANN to consider the concerns of the members of the NPOC. She also recommended that verified not-for-profit organizations be allowed to exempt their their trademarks from any other applicant in the new  gTLD Program at no cost or drastically reduced fee, eliminate or drastically reduce the costs of the new gTLD program for verified not-for-profit organizations and to strengthen the mechanisms for trademark protection.<ref>[http://commerce.senate.gov/public/?a=Files.Serve&File_id=56a49ede-865f-4bbe-9635-58d0b59add7b Testimony of Angela F. Williams, Senate Hearing, Dec. 8, 2012]</ref>

Angela Williams represented the members of the [[NPOC|Not-for-Profit Operational Concerns Constituency]] (NPOC) during the Senate hearing regarding ICANN's new gTLD expansion program. Williams raised budgetary, public confusions and cybersquatting concerns in her testimony. According to her, the increased risk of public confusions compromise the internet security and it would be more expensive for entities particularly not-for-profit organizations to protect their brand names/trademarks against fraud, [[cybersquatting]] and trademark infringement. She also pointed out that not-for-profit-organizations cannot afford the amount of money needed to become a domain name registry to ensure brand protection. Williams encouraged ICANN to consider the concerns of the members of the NPOC. She also recommended that verified not-for-profit organizations be allowed to exempt their their trademarks from any other applicant in the new  gTLD Program at no cost or drastically reduced fee, eliminate or drastically reduce the costs of the new gTLD program for verified not-for-profit organizations and to strengthen the mechanisms for trademark protection.<ref>[http://commerce.senate.gov/public/?a=Files.Serve&File_id=56a49ede-865f-4bbe-9635-58d0b59add7b Testimony of Angela F. Williams, Senate Hearing, Dec. 8, 2012]</ref>

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