PRESS RELEASE
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE 1:30PM DECEMER 18, 2000
MANAGER OF THE “.BIZ” TOP LEVEL DOMAIN NAME DEMANDS COMMERCE DEPT. RULEMAKING IN CHALLENGE TO ICANN RECOMMENDATION
Dispute
Over the Right to the “.Biz” Domain Name
Questions
ICANN’s Authority Over Top
Level Domain Names
Washington, D.C. (Dec. 18, 2000)—The registry owner of the “.biz” Top Level Domain Name (TLD) in the Open Root Server Confederation (ORSC) rootzone filed a Petition for Rulemaking today with the National Telecommunications and Information Agency of the Department of Commerce. The petition submitted by Atlantic Root Network, Inc. (Atlantic), challenges the recent recommendation by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) of the “.biz” TLD, asserting in its petition that “.biz” has been included since 1996 in the ORSC root. Atlantic further claims that since it was delegated authority to manage this domain name, more than 1000 domain names using “.biz” have been registered this year.
Leah Gallegos, the President of Atlantic, said: “The ORSC is a viable Internet root server system and open to the public. ORSC augments and complements the 13 root servers governed by ICANN. If ICANN permits the new “.biz” to operate, our registrants will be disenfranchised and our business ruined.”
William Bode, the Washington D.C. Internet attorney filing the Petition for Rulemaking on behalf of Atlantic explained: “The complementary roots like ORSC utilize the ICANN governed TLDs as a baseline. The ICANN recommended “.biz” TLD, if added to Network Solutions, Inc. “A” root server, would conflict with ARNI’s long established TLD.”
The Petition for Rulemaking asserts that the (ICANN ) has no legal authority to approve new TLDs. At a meeting on November 16, 2000, the ICANN Board selected seven new TLDS “for negotiation of agreements:” .aero; .pro; .coop; .info; .museum; .name; and .biz. ICANN reported at that time that the new TLDs are expected to be operational by the second quarter of 2001.
“What is particularly disturbing to me is that ICANN Board member Vint Cerf, one of the fathers of the Internet, objected to the award to Afilias of the proposed TLD “.web” because it has been a functional registry under the operation of Image Online Design, “ said Gallegos. “On this basis, the Board should have rejected the .biz TLD proposal.”
“ICANN has no inherent legal authority to make any final decisions on new TLDs. That authority rests solely with the Department of Commerce,” said Mr. Bode, who added that under binding legal precedents, the Commerce Department must hold a public Rulemaking on the ICANN chosen TLDs.
Mr. Bode also cited the Memorandum of Understanding between ICANN and the Commerce Department, which states that under the agreement they are prohibited from any act which injures any person or category of persons or entities. “This provision encapsulates constitutional and federal statutory safeguards whose observance precludes adoption of the new “.biz” TLD,” commented Bode..
Bode says that the Administrative Procedures Act requires formal notice, comments, and a public hearing before the Commerce Department can officially approve any new TLDs. “We will set forth our legal position in detail in the formal Rulemaking proceeding,” he said.
The proponents of the new TLDs put-up $50,000 for the privilege of participating in the ICANN selection process that began in August 2000. In soliciting proposals, ICANN explained that new TLDs were necessary to enhance competition and to relieve the crowding-out of Internet domain names in the .com TLD.
Contacts: Leah Gallegos
Telephone: 757-631-9838
Email: admin@biztld.net
William Bode
Bode & Beckman
Tele: 202-862-4300
Email: wbode@bode.com
1150 Connecticut Ave.
Washington, D.C. 20036
.