PDP Review of All Rights Protection Mechanisms in All gTLDs

PDP Review of All Rights Protection Mechanisms in All gTLDs
Status:	Active
Issue Areas:	Dispute Resolution
Date Established:	February 2016
Charter:	WG Charter
Workspace:	Community Wiki

The Policy Development Process (PDP) Review of All Rights Protection Mechanisms in All gTLDs is a GNSO project established in 2016 to review the full range of rights protection mechanisms (RPMs) within the domain space..

Background

ICANN's Rights Protection Mechanisms allow the holders of intellectual property rights, such as trademarks, to defend those rights in the domain name space. In 1999, the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) was established to resolve disputes relating to the registration of domain names. Ahead of the new gTLD Program, several new RPMs were developed: the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH), Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS), and Trademark Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure (PDDRP). The TMCH provides a central clearinghouse for trademark registrations and provides verification of registrations for all registries and registrars. The URS gives trademark holders a quick and inexpensive means of suspending domain names that are easily proven to be infringing on a given trademark. The PDDRP provides remedy or compensation for trademark holders who were harmed by a gTLD registry operator.

In February 2011, the GNSO Council requested an Issues Report in accordance with the recommendations of the Registration Abuse Policies Working Group. In response, ICANN staff reviewed the UDRP ahead of the New gTLD Program, releasing its report in October 2011, recommending that the GNSO hold off on forming a PDP until the URS had been in effect for at least 18 months. Later, the GNSO Council asked ICANN to begin an Issue Report on all RPMs (including but not limited to the UDRP and URS) in December 2011. ICANN staff submitted the Final Issue Report in January 2016, and the WG was chartered in March 2016. According to the WG charter, the group will operate in two phases with the first being to evaluate all RPMs developed for the New gTLD Program and the second being to review the UDRP.

The PDP Review of RPMs in all gTLDs was spun out of the Final Issue Report on the current state of the UDRP in 2011 and the subsequent Issue Report on the current state of all RPMs in 2016.

The PDP was initiated in February 2016 to review all RPMs in two phases:

• PHASE 1: All RPMs applicable to New gTLDs (2012 Program)
  • Trademark Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure (PDDRP);
  • Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH); and
  • Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS)
• PHASE 2: Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP)

Phase 1 Review of New gTLD Program RPMs

The Working Group's initial report was completed in March 2020. It presented twenty-six recommendations, seventeen questions for the community regarding specific aspects of the new gTLD rights protection mechanisms, and twenty-four proposals submitted by WG members that had not yet risen to the level of consensus recommendations. The WG sought public input on all of those recommendations, questions, and proposals, with an eye toward drafting a final report and recommendations.

The initial report's findings included a number of conflicts between existing rights protection mechanisms and the GDPR. The WG noted, for example, that the procedural rules of the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) had filing requirements that included information that the provisions within the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data no longer required. As a result, amendments were proposed regarding the specificity of information necessary to file a complaint. The questions to the community sought public input on the workability of the protection mechanisms and specific input from registry operators regarding their experience receiving and processing complaints and other transactions with complainants or petitioners. The proposals from individual WG members dealt with the URS and the Trademark Clearinghouse, specifically. The report noted that some of the rationales behind the proposals were not necessarily supported by the findings of the WG.

Public comments on the initial report were extensive - forty-four comments were received from organizations and twelve people submitted comments in their individual capacity. For ease of analysis, the WG created a matrix of comments received on specific recommendations, questions, and proposals.