Legal bills could start coming in as two sides bicker of .jobs domain name.
An argument between .jobs registry Employ Media and ICANN has already cost some legal dollars, and I have a feeling it’s about to get more expensive.
Although the two parties are technically in a process of “Cooperative Engagement”, recent correspondence is not favorable. In fact, the parties are sending correspondence about correspondence.
On April 22 counsel for Employ Media sent a stern letter to ICANN complaining that ICANN had published communication between the two parties:
My client, Employ Media, and I are most disappointed by the fact that your client, ICANN, posted certain communications related to the current Cooperative Engagement process, and that it did so without an opportunity for discussion, despite my request that you not proceed with posting our communications until I had reverted to you. We are equally disappointed by the fact that, during all of the various discussions I had with you, you never once raised with me the prospect that ICANN would be posting any of the communications between the parties. In light of this apparent bad faith action on ICANN’s part, Employ Media is q uestioningwhether any hope remains for a full and fair exchange of ideas regarding a resolution of its dispute with ICANN.
ICANN’s counsel responded on April 26, stating that publishing the correspondence was important to meeting its transparency objectives. It also said that one of the complaints ICANN made to Employ Media in its breach notice was that the .jobs community wasn’t fully aware of changes being made to .jobs…so publishing these letters is important for making the .jobs community aware.
Looks like your hunch was correct.