ICANN offers gTLD refund

The decision, made at the Board’s meeting in Amsterdam on Sunday, was in recognition of the inconvenience caused by the suspension of the TLD application system on April 12. The suspension was due to a software glitch that enabled some users to see file names belonging to others.

The system is not yet back online, but ICANN was expected to provide an update on timings late last night. It is believed to be contacting more than 100 users who were affected by the glitch.

The full refund means withdrawing applicants would receive about US$5,000 more than they would have otherwise.

ICANN’s Intellectual Property Constituency held a meeting yesterday in the Washington Convention Center, at which issues including new gTLDs, rights protection mechanisms, Whois developments and contract compliance were discussed. Also on the agenda was ICANN’s next meeting in Prague from June 24 to 29, at which the IPC has asked for a room to meet with new gTLD applicants. IPC members encouraged trademark owners to attend the Prague meeting either in person or via ICANN’s teleconference facilities, to make their views known.