Afilias
Limited has requested from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN) the removal of the cross-ownership restrictions reflected on
the .MOBI Registry Agreement dated 10 July 2005 and on the .PRO Registry
Agreement dated 22 April 2010 respectively.
Afilias Limited is the registry operator of the .info, .mobi and
.pro top-level domain, and service provider for registry operators of
.org, .asia, .aero, and a provider of domain name registry services.
DigitalSENSE Business News notes
that these requests are in line according to the "Process for Handling
Requests for Removal of Cross-Ownership Restrictions on Operators of Existing
gTLDs" adopted by the Board of ICANN on 18 October 2012.
Also,
DigitalSENSE Business News gathered
that according to the approved process, in order to lift cross-ownership
restrictions, existing gTLD registry operators could either request an
amendment to their existing Registry Agreement to remove the cross-ownership
restrictions or request transition to the new form of Registry Agreement for
new gTLDs.
Hence,
any proposed material amendments to gTLD registry agreements would be subject
to public comment prior to ICANN approval.
As
said by Vice President and General Counsel for Afilias Limited, Mr. M. Scott
Hemphill was, for instance, specific on Amendment No. 3 to the .MOBI sponsored TLD Agreement
and the parties (ICANN and Afilias) agree to the modifications to Section 7.1
of the Agreement.
For
the .PRO request, Afilias is asking for deletion of Section 7.1(c), which
states in part that "Restrictions on Acquisition of Ownership or Controlling
Interest in Registrar. Registry Operator shall not acquire, directly or
indirectly, control of, or a greater than fifteen percent ownership interest
in, any ICANN-accredited registrar; provided, however that any ownership or
controlling interest in any ICANN-accredited registrar as of the date of this
Agreement held by Registry Operator or any of its affiliates shall not be in
violation of this Section.” In addition to asking for the amendment of Section
7.1(b), adding of new Sections 7.1(c), 7.1(d) and 7(e) and in addition to
adding Section 7.1(e) which Afilias proposed to read in part: "In
connection with the operation of the registry for the TLD, Registry Operator
shall comply with the Registry Code of Conduct as set forth in Appendix 12."
And for .MOBO, areas Afilias is seeking
amendment which comprised the deletion of Section 7.1(c), amending Section
7.1(b), adding new sections 7.1(c) and 7.1(d) as well as adding Section 7.1(e),
while adding Appendix 8 to the agreement in its entirety.
Remmy Nweke/DigitalSENSE Business News
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