Group submits final report to ICANN.

Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT), an ad hoc group put together to represent trademark interests in the launch of new top level domains, has issued its final report (pdf). The report will be discussed at ICANN’s next meeting in Sydney.

The part that seems most relevant to domain investors is the Uniform Rapid Suspension system (URS). Think of it as a fast track UDRP for obvious trademark cases. Here are few of my observations:

1. I’m not surprised that IRT capitulated and decided that existing UDRP providers (such as National Arbitration Forum) can handle both URS and UDRP cases. The first draft of the report recommended that the URS provider must be different since it would create a conflict of interest as UDRP cases pay much more than URS. This would kill the UDRP provider’s business as they make their gravy with simple UDRP cases. IRT now says that UDRP providers can also be URS providers, although they may have to refer a URS case to an alternative UDRP provider if it advances.

Even with this change, it will drastically cut revenues at the arbitration groups. Expect them to fight URS and instead try to reform UDRP, perhaps be lowering fees when a respondent doesn’t submit a response.

2. Companies that win a URS will not get ownership of the domain name. This hasn’t changed from the first draft but has been clarified. Essentially a company that wants an infringing domain taken down can use URS, but if it wins then the domain will simply resolve to an error page. This will hopefully limit cases of reverse domain name hijacking through URS.

3. IRT’s recommendations are such a drastic change from how the system works today that it should be given lots of thought and consultation with all constituents. This could literally take a year or two through standard ICANN practices. If people are worried that “doing it right” will slow down the launch of new TLDs, then the more radical portions of IRT’s recommendations should be delayed until after new TLDs launch. Registry and registrar contracts could still include provisions for abiding by future trademark policy changes.

The comment period for the final report is open through June 29, 2009.

ccTLDs carry lots of risks with the rewards.

With TRAFFIC ccTLDs just around the corner, it’s only fitting that another example of the risks of registering country code domain names should pop up this month.

As spotted by Internet Commerce Association, The Argentina Ministry of Foreign affairs is limiting the number of com.ar and org.ar domain names that any one entity can register to 200. The organization is doing this because it believes there is abuse of the system by registrants registering many domain names without intending to use them.

This change will also affect existing registrants, as they will only be allowed to renew 200 domain names. So if someone has 1,000 .ar domains, they will have to select the best 200 to keep.

Country code domain names can be very rewarding to investors, but they carry extreme risks. Countries have lots of leeway in how they manage them and can even censor certain types of domain names. This timely move should make for interesting debate at next week’s conference in Amsterdam.

[See rough translation of resolution limiting registrations to 200.]

Andrew McLaughlin to be deputy chief technology officer.

The New York Times is reporting that former ICANN executive and current Google head of global public policy Andrew McLaughlin is joining the Obama administration as deputy chief technology officer. He will report to chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra.

McLaughlin joined Google about five years ago. Before that he was an executive with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, holding the position of Vice President and Chief Policy Officer.

The New York Times article points out that this will exacerbate fears that Google is getting too cozy with the U.S. government. From a domain industry perspective, it will be interesting to see how having a former ICANN insider a handshake away from the president affects the administration’s stance on cutting (or not) ICANN loose when its current agreement ends later this year.

Amended complaint includes new parties and allegations.

Thought Convergence (TCI) has amended its complaint against Jay Westerdal and other parties related to TCI’s acquisition of Name Intelligence, LLC (NIL).

The amended complaint names Name Intelligence, Inc., a holding company owned in part by Westerdal, and DOTMOVIE, Westerdal’s company that plans to introduce a .movie top level domain name.

According to the amended complaint, TCI has now paid the full amount due for its second payment for the acquisition. TCI paid $4 million on May 8, 2009, and transferred $1.5 million into an escrow account pending outcome of the lawsuit. The complaint states:

TCI continued to investigate the amounts of its set-off claims between May 8, 2009 and May 26, 2009. That investigation revealed that much of the misconduct, while egregious and startling, was difficult to monetize and continues to be a moving and growing target. While the amount of set-off is likely to be well in excess of $1.5 million, a final determination will required additional time and retention of consultants and experts in order to fix an amount to its substantial claims.

Therefore, TCI released the $1.5 million from the escrow account on May 26, 2009, and decided it will pursue set-offs and damages in the litigation.

The complaint also adds new allegations that Westerdal breached his fiduciary duty to the company:

J. Westerdal breached his fiduciary duties to TCI and NIL by meeting with NIL Businesses’ employees and falsely informing them, among other things, that (i) TCI would be unable to make payroll; (ii) TCI was insolvent; and (iii) J. Westerdal would get his company back.

Furthermore, TCI alleges that Westerdal “breached his fiduciary duties by disclosing TCI and NIL confidential information to the public.”

A summons dated May 27 gives the defendants twenty days to answer the complaint.

You may view the May 27 amended complaint here (pdf).

Typo Generator includes the information you need to protect your brand against typosquatters.

All week I’ve been writing about how I use DomainTools. Here’s the latest tool I use…

There are a number of typo generators out there, but DomainTools’ is the only one that makes it easy to find out who is typosquatting on your domain name. It also lets you know if someone previously typosquatted or tasted a typo of your domain.

To use the typo generator, go to domaintools.com/domain-typo and enter the domain name. Then choose your options including views:

Registrant View – see typos of your domain and the registrant’s name. Great for seeing if one person is aggressively typosquatting you.

DNS View – typos include nameservers and IP addresses. Great for seeing if typos of your domain are parked.

TLD View – this is one of my favorites. You see each typo by top level domain and can tell how it’s being used: active web site or parked page, for example. You can also see if any of the typos are on hold for expiration. One of the neatest features is seeing domains that were previously registered but now available. If I search for DomainNameWire.com, I can see about a dozen domains that were previously registered. Most of these were probably just tasted for five days and then dropped.

I used DomainTools’ typo generator about a year ago and found a couple similar domains. One of them has since expired; the owner of the second gave the domain to me.