WASHINGTON, February 4, 2011 – The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) applauds ICANN Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush’s statement indicating further delay of the roll out of the new gTLD program. In an interview with World Trademark Review, as well as in remarks made at the McCarthy Institute Symposium, Dengate Thrush said that the final version of the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook would not be approved at the upcoming March 2011 ICANN meeting in San Francisco.

“To delay the new gTLD program is the right decision for ICANN. Too many questions remain unanswered. Trademark owners, businesses, consumers and governments want to better understand the impact that new gTLDs will have on them,” said CADNA president Josh Bourne. “If the gTLD delay indicates consideration of public concerns, ICANN is moving in the right direction. CADNA looks forward to working with ICANN to bring about a more transparent and rational review of the proposed gTLD policy and resolving outstanding issues with the Applicant Guidebook.” Chairman Dengate Thrush’s announcement to delay the introduction of new gTLDs reflects the increasingly voiced concerns of not only trademark owners and businesses, but ICANN’s own Government Advisory Committee (GAC).

CADNA anticipates that the delay of the new gTLD program indicates a willingness by ICANN to pursue meaningful discussions with the GAC in order to resolve the multitude of concerns raised by the GAC and the broader Internet community as noted in public comment forums. To date, ICANN’s efforts to summarize and address the public comments made regarding the most recent version of the Applicant Guidebook have been inadequate. The upcoming February meeting between ICANN and the GAC, as well as the March ICANN meeting, provide opportunities for ICANN to properly address concerns that remain.

Bourne continued, “As the sole source of domain name policy, ICANN’s responsibility is to promote development of the Internet in order to protect the public interest. Transparent and accountable governance is critical for public trust in any ICANN policy initiative; so far the gTLD policy development has been far from satisfactory.”

The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the systemic domain name abuses that plague the Internet today. For more information, please visit www.cadna.org.