Brand issues set to take centre stage at ICANN 72 meeting

Next week is the kick-off of ICANN’s 2021 Annual Meeting.  Like other pandemic-era meetings, this will be held exclusively online, which is a great opportunity for those who may not have been able to attend in the past due to travel constraints.  While you may have missed some or all of ICANN prep week, and the intervening week which consisted of various sessions led by special interest groups, there is still plenty of content left to consume.  Here are the events in next week’s schedule that could provide valuable insight to brand owners.

The Intellectual Property Constituency, the voice of brand owners within the ICANN ecosystem, meets at 23:30 UTC, 27 October 2021. You should expect robust discussion of the domain name related issues that affect brand owners, for example, Phase 2 of the Review of All Rights Protection Mechanisms, which consider enhancements to the UDRP. If you have been looking for an opportunity to connect with the constituency and ICANN generally, now may be the best time. 

The Brand Registry Group is designed around those who already have a contract with ICANN to run a ‘.brand’ registry corresponding to their trademark, or those who want to explore that possibility for the next round. It will meet 19:30 UTC, 25 October 2021 and will be diving into issues such as the next round of new gTLDs, privacy laws and domain name system abuse.

What kind of meetings will ICANN hold as the pandemic winds down in some places but continues in others?  That is the subject of hot debate within the ICANN community and will be the subject of a community-wide discussion to be held on 17:30 UTC, 27 October 2021 entitled “Plenary Session: Designing Hybrid ICANN Public Meetings to Equalize In-Person & Remote Participation”

Last, but perhaps the most interesting session, is the ever-popular ICANN Public Forum, in which nearly any topic related to ICANN can be raised by nearly any participant.  Topics may include the effects of the EU General Data Protection Regulation on WHOIS, the timing of the next round of new gTLDs, the format and location of ICANN meetings for 2023, and a host of other topics of interest to the community.

In order to attend these and other sessions, you must register for the meeting on ICANN’s website.