Public Comment
Proposed Renewal of .info Registry Agreement
Open Date
18 March 2019 23:59 UTC
Close Date
29 April 2019 23:59 UTC
Staff Report Due
3 June 2019 23:59 UTC
Brief Overview
Purpose: The purpose of this public comment proceeding is to obtain community input on the proposed .info renewal agreement (herein referred to as ".info renewal agreement"). This renewal proposal is a result of discussions between ICANN and Afilias Limited, the registry operator for the .info top-level domain (TLD).
Current Status: The current .info Registry Agreement (herein referred to as current .info agreement) will expire on 30 June 2019. Section 4.2 of the current .info agreement provides that it shall be renewed upon the expiration of the initial term set forth in Section 4.1.
Next Steps: Following review of the public comments received, ICANN org will prepare and publish a summary and analysis of the comments. The report will be available for the ICANN Board in its consideration of the proposed .info renewal agreement.
Section I: Description and Explanation
The proposed renewal agreement for the .info TLD is based on the base generic top level domain (gTLD) Registry Agreement (herein referred to as base registry agreement) updated on 31 July 2017. However, in order to account for the specific nature of the .info TLD, relevant provisions in the current .info agreement have been carried over to the .info renewal agreement.
As a result, the proposed .info renewal agreement is substantially similar to the terms of the base registry agreement. Listed below are summaries of both a) provisions in the proposed .info renewal agreement that are materially different from the current .info agreement, and b) material differences between the .info renewal agreement and the base registry agreement.
- Provisions in the proposed .info renewal agreement that are materially different from the current .info agreement:
- Approved Services (Exhibit A): Consistent with all new gTLDs and other legacy TLD registry agreement renewals, Exhibit A has been updated to include the following additional or modified approved services: Anti-Abuse, Registry Lock, Bulk Transfer After Partial Portfolio Acquisition (BTAPPA), Whois Contact Lookup, Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), Registration Validation per Applicable Law, and an implementation period of 270 calendar days to transition all systems to the requirements of the .info renewal agreement.
- Protection of Legal Rights of Third Parties and Minimum Requirements for Rights Protection Mechanisms (Section 2.8 and Specification 7 of the .info renewal agreement): To better conform with the base registry agreement, the .info renewal agreement will be subject to the Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPMs) set forth in Section 2 of Specification 7, including the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) system, the Trademark Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Procedure (PDDRP) and the Registration Restrictions Dispute Resolution Procedure (RRDRP). Afilias Limited is also authorized to develop additional rights protection mechanisms. Section 2.8 of the .info renewal agreement also does not contemplate processes and procedures for launch of the TLD, as is consistent with other legacy TLD Registry Agreement renewals.
- Public Interest Commitments (Section 2.17 and Specification 11 of the .info renewal agreement): The Registry Operator has adopted the public interest commitments and applicability of the Public Interest Commitment Dispute Resolution Process (PICDRP) comparable to other new gTLD Operators (except Specification 11, Section 2, which refers to the initial application for the gTLD).
- Fees to be paid to ICANN org (Section 6.1 of the .info renewal agreement): The .info renewal agreement has been modified to match the fee provisions in the base registry agreement. Accordingly, the registry fixed fee of $6,250 per calendar quarter is proposed for the .info TLD, beginning on the effective date of the renewal agreement. The registry-level transaction fee remains at $0.25 for each annual increment of an initial or renewal domain name registration.
- Registry Code of Conduct (Section 2.14 and Specification 9 of the .info renewal agreement): The Registry Operator has adopted the code of conduct in conformity with the base registry agreement.
- Pricing for Domain Name Registrations and Registry Services (Section 2.10 of the .info renewal agreement): In alignment with the base registry agreement, the price cap provisions in the current .info agreement, which limited the price of registrations and allowable price increases for registrations, are removed from the .info renewal agreement. Protections for existing registrants will remain in place in line with the base registry agreement. This change will not only allow the .info renewal agreement to better conform with the base registry agreement, but also takes into consideration the maturation of the domain name market and the goal of treating the Registry Operator equitably with operators of new gTLDs and other legacy gTLDs utilizing the base registry agreement.
- Misc. Provisions: Various other provisions have been modified, at the request of the Registry Operator and after bilateral negotiations with Registry Operator, to align with terms previously included in the current .info agreement.
- Material differences between the proposed renewal agreement for .info and the base gTLD Registry Agreement:
- Registry Interoperability and Continuity (Section 2.7 and Specification 6 of the base registry agreement): Section 6 of Specification 6 of the base registry agreement (Name Collision Occurrence Management) will not apply to the .info TLD as it has been in operation since 2001. This is consistent with other legacy TLD registry agreement renewals.
- Emergency Transition (Section 2.13 and 2.14 of the .info renewal agreement) and Continued Operations Instrument (Section 2.12 and Specification 8 of the base registry agreement): In alignment with the base registry agreement, the .info renewal agreement will continue to incorporate the registrant protection provision allowing ICANN org to designate an emergency interim registry operator if emergency thresholds for registry functions are reached. However, the Continued Operations Instrument requirement will not apply to the .info TLD as it has been in continuous operation since 2001. As a result, Section 4.3(c) of the base registry agreement (Termination by ICANN) is not applicable to the .info TLD and, therefore, is of no force or effect. This is consistent with other legacy TLDs who have adopted the Emergency Transition provisions.
- Pass Through Fees related to the Trademark Clearinghouse (Section 6.4 of the base registry agreement): This requirement will not apply to the .info TLD as it has been in continuous operation since 2001. As a result, Section 6.4 of the base registry agreement is not applicable to the .info TLD and, therefore, is of no force or effect. This is consistent with other legacy TLD registry agreement renewals.
- Schedule of Reserved Names (Specification 5 of the base registry agreement): The .info renewal agreement amends Section 2 of Specification 5 (Two-Character ASCII Labels) allowing the Registry Operator to allocate two-character labels that were reserved in prior registry agreements. The allocation of two-character labels is subject to the Registration Policy and Post Registrations Complaint Investigation provisions to avoid confusion with corresponding country codes, as stated in Appendix A of the Authorization for Release of Letter/Letter Two-Character ASCII Labels at The Second Level issued to all new gTLD registry operators on 13 December 2016. Additionally, the provision on the Registry Operator's use of up to 100 names for the operation and promotion of the TLD(Section 3.2) and the provisions on activation of names relating to International Olympic Committee, International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (Section 5) and names relating to Intergovernmental Organizations Section (Section 6) are of no force or effect in the proposed .info renewal agreement.
- Misc. Provisions: Various other provisions have been modified to remove references to the initial delegation of the TLD, entry into the root-zone, statements made in the registry TLD application and launch of the TLD, as they are not applicable to a legacy TLD.
Posted for public comment are both clean and "redline" versions of the .info renewal agreement, and the Addendum to the .info renewal agreement that is proposed to be executed by the parties as follows:
Contractual Compliance Review: As part of the renewal process, ICANN conducted a contractual compliance review of the current .info agreement. Afilias Limited was found to be in compliance with its contractual requirements for the operation of the .info TLD.Section II: Background
ICANN and Afilias Limited first entered into a TLD Registry Agreement on 11 May 2001 for the operation of the .info TLD, which was subsequently renewed on 8 December 2006 and 22 August 2013.
In addition to the .info renewal agreement, the registry agreements of several "legacy" gTLDs, namely, .tel, .mobi, .jobs, .travel, .cat and .pro, have been renewed based on the base registry agreement as a result of bilateral negotiations between ICANN and the applicable registry operators. These renewed agreements can be viewed at: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/registries/registries-agreements-en.
Comments Closed
Report of Public Comments