Re: [registrars] Meeting this AM with Neulevel - notes and next steps.

[Larry Erlich <erlich@domainregistry.com>]

Rob,

Some of the items you mentioned below are very
encouraging, but I believe the agreements also have to be approved
by the Commerce Dept. I had a meeting with the DOC yesterday
which has their hands full with the decision on ICANN/Verisign.
I don't think new TLD agreements will be approved within the next week.

Larry Erlich

http://www.DomainRegistry.com


Rob Hall wrote:
> 
> I had the pleasure of meeting with 3 Neulevel people this morning.  They
> flew in this AM to get together to hear our concerns.  I also took the
> initiative to invite Jonathan Cohen to the meeting.
> 
> After a long discussion, we were able to make our views very clear.  We
> asked for the following from them. They agreed to get back to us by Friday
> morning.
> 
> 1)  That Neulevel would not interface directly with registrants or end
> users and would interface ONLY with ICANN accredited registrars (not
> "Neulevel approved trademark service providers") for any service, including
> their "IP Claim Service".
> 
> 2)  That Neulevel would not insist on setting the retail pricing and
> margins for registrars.
> 
> 3) That Neulevel would not publish and market to end users a registrars
> costs (other than required by ICANN) (ie: not publish registrar costs
> prominently on their website).
> 
> 4) That Neulevel would never offer registrar services to the public.
> 
> The other argument to be made is one of timing.  Prior to ANY registrar
> being able to register either IP claims or domains, the following must happen:
> 
> 1)  The .biz registry agreements must be signed by ICANN
> 2)  ICANN approved registrars must be accredited by ICANN to sell .biz
> 3)  These registrars must then sign agreements with the .biz registry
> 4)  These registrars must then be given the interface specs and integrate
> them into our systems.
> 
> This must all happen before May 14th, when Neulevel starts taking IP
> claims.  Frankly, it just won't happen in 7 business days.  Neulevel's
> plans are to start anyway, even if
> step one hasn't been completed.  We told them that we felt that this was
> unacceptable and that they should be dealing only with Registrars, and
> never directly with end users.
> 
> The timing on this is tight.  My understanding is that if no ICANN board
> member objects, the contracts can be signed by the ICANN President 7 days
> after posting.  This is expected to be tomorrow or Friday.
> 
> I have also started working with a few registrars on a letter to the ICANN
> board expressing our concerns and asking them to look into this further
> (and not sign the contracts this week).  I hope we will not have to send it.
> 
> Don't get me wrong.  We are all for .biz and getting moving, but NOT at the
> expense of registrars.
> 
> Since that meeting, Neulevel's new CEO has called me and asked for an
> urgent meeting.  I have a call with him for 6:30 tonight.  I hope to be
> able to report more back then.
> 
> Rob.
> 
> --
> Rob Hall                                voice  (613) 768-5100
> President                                  fax  (613) 820-0777
> Momentous.ca Corp.
> rob@momentous.ca                      www.momentous.ca
> 
> iti,s

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Larry Erlich - DomainRegistry.com, Inc.
215-244-6700 - FAX:215-244-6605 - Reply: erlich@DomainRegistry.com
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