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In answer to Ayden and Michael I am resending to the list comments Amr made a few days ago. They show how the new Registry Agreement still limits price increases effectively. I guess folks who are panicking about uncontrolled price increases didn’t read the
actual registry agreement.
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<div>So no, Ayden I am not impressed with the comments of the existing .org registrants because it seems like they are not well-informed - all they hear is the phrase “no more price caps”. Seems like the price increases only affect new registrants. </div>
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<div>But why let facts get in the way of your fun, eh?<br>
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<div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr">Milton L Mueller
<div>Professor, School of Public Policy</div>
<div>Georgia Institute of Technology</div>
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Begin forwarded message:<br>
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<div dir="ltr"><b>From:</b> Amr Elsadr <<a href="mailto:aelsadr@icannpolicy.ninja">aelsadr@icannpolicy.ninja</a>><br>
<b>Date:</b> April 25, 2019 at 16:33:35 EDT<br>
<b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:milton@GATECH.EDU">milton@GATECH.EDU</a><br>
<b>Cc:</b> <a href="mailto:NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU">NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU</a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> <b>Re: [Urgent] [Public Comment] Proposed Renewal of .org Registry Agreement</b><br>
<b>Reply-To:</b> Amr Elsadr <<a href="mailto:aelsadr@icannpolicy.ninja">aelsadr@icannpolicy.ninja</a>><br>
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<div dir="ltr">Hi Milton,
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<div class="">If my understanding of Section 2.10 of the Registry Agreement is correct, registrars can continue to renew existing registrations without an increase in price following an increase in pricing of new registrations by the Registry Operator (RO)
for a period of up to 10 years. Additionally, ROs are required to have uniform pricing for registration renewals. This would mean that all renewal prices would remain unchanged, unless they all change across all registrars simultaneously.</div>
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<div class="">The protections for existing registrants referred to are detailed in 2.10c of the Registry Agreement. The protection is basically that registrants have to agree to renewal prices higher than that of the original registration at the time of the
initial registration. It can’t be forced upon them at a later date. This is meant as a provision to
<i class="">“<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 16px; text-indent: 96px;" class="">prohibit abusive and/or discriminatory Renewal Pricing practices imposed by Registry Operator without the written consent of the applicable registrant at the
time of the initial registration of the domain</span>“</i>.</div>
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<div class="">Thanks.</div>
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<div class="">Amr </div>
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<div class="">On Apr 25, 2019, at 9:30 PM, Mueller, Milton L <<a href="mailto:milton@GATECH.EDU" class="">milton@GATECH.EDU</a>> wrote:</div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class="">I agree with the letter’s discussion of URS and other RPMs. I agree with Amr that we may need to moderate the language about “unilateral ICANN action” however
because PIR may indeed have gone along with this.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class="">On the issue of price caps, I think we need some factual clarification. If Amr is right and the potential price increases only apply to new registrants, then
there is much less of an issue. The proposed renewal says “</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" class="">Protections
for existing registrants will remain in place, in line with the base registry agreement.“</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class="">What, exactly, are those “protections for existing registrants”?<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class="">MM<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div>
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<b class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">From:</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>NCSG-Discuss <<a href="mailto:NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU</a>><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b class="">On
Behalf Of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>Amr Elsadr<br class="">
<b class="">Sent:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Thursday, April 25, 2019 10:33 AM<br class="">
<b class="">To:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU</a><br class="">
<b class="">Subject:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Re: [Urgent] [Public Comment] Proposed Renewal of .org Registry Agreement<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
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Hi,<o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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Thanks for sharing this, Rafik. Speaking for myself, I very much agree with the comment on adding the new gTLD Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPMs) to the PIR contract for .org at this time. As the draft comment rightly points out, these RPMs will not actually
be Consensus Policies until after the ICANN Board adopts the recommendations of the Review of all RPMs in all gTLDs PDP Working Group, and should not apply to any of the legacy gTLDs, including .org. However to characterize the decision to do so as a unilateral
ICANN decision is something I’m not sure of. I presume that PIR negotiated this with ICANN before the public comment period began? I might be wrong, as I’m making an assumption here.<o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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To be clear, the RPMs that would be applicable here (if I’m not mistaken) are the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) and the Trademark Claims RPM (part of the Trademark Clearing House), but not the Sunrise Registrations RPM, obviously, since .org has been around
for a while.<o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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Substantively, I don’t believe the URS will be much of an issue, since it is largely deemed to be an unappealing mechanism for use by Trademark holders, as the stats and anecdotal evidence that has been shared to date indicate. The impact of Trademark Claims,
on the other hand, might be very different, and prior to it being reviewed by the RPMs PDP, and adopted as an ICANN policy, I don’t believe adding it to the .org contract in a renewal is a good move.<o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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On the second issue, where the draft comment disagrees with removing price caps for .org registrations, I’m pretty sure I don’t agree with the rationale or conclusion. I don’t believe PIR’s status as a non-profit entity justifies this. IMO, it imposes unreasonable
obligations on PIR that other Registry Operators are not subject to, so effectively penalizing PIR for its status, and its continued mission to<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i class="">“support many excellent causes”</i>, as pointed out in the
draft.<o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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Furthermore, there is little to no evidence that I can see (at least in the draft) that registrants of .org domain names will be negatively impacted by removal of the price cap. My understanding is that this will mainly impact new registrations, not existing
ones, but this isn’t addressed at all.<o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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To me, PIR needs to set its own price taking in to consideration their own consumer base. If they make bad decisions that drive their customers away, I don’t believe this will negatively impact registrants as much as it would PIR itself, especially considering
that there are over a thousand gTLDs for registrants to migrate to, should they choose to do so.<o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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Thanks.<o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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Amr<o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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On Apr 25, 2019, at 3:59 PM, Rafik Dammak <<a href="mailto:rafik.dammak@GMAIL.COM" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">rafik.dammak@GMAIL.COM</a>> wrote:<o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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Hi all,<o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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We have a suggested draft comment ( attached) on proposed renewal of .org agreement <a href="https://www.icann.org/public-comments/org-renewal-2019-03-18-en" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;" class="">https://www.icann.org/public-comments/org-renewal-2019-03-18-en</a>.
The deadline for submission is the 29th April and for NCSG PC to review and endorse. Please share your comments abd input.<o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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Best Regards,<o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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Rafik <o:p class=""></o:p></div>
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<Org Letter Rev.docx></div>
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