New version 10 of the Applicant Guidebook

A new version of the applicant guidebook (V10) was just published with minor changes. You can find it here. Down the page you will find a link entitled "Summary of Changes to the Applicant Guidebook" which shows, in red, changes with last version.

What are these changes:

1. Attachment to Module 2 (Evaluation Questions and Criteria), Protection of Geographic Names: Link references are updated;
2. 3.1, GAC Advice on New gTLDs: Updated for consistency with the formulation of GAC advice;
3. 3.3, Filling procedures: Updated to provide current reference to Dispute Resolution Service Provider rules;
4. Dispute Resolution Service Provider fees and rules: Draft provider fees and rules are no longer included in Guidebook as page has been established for the Objection and Dispute Resolution processes and the current information is available at http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/objection-dispute-resolution;
5. Attachment to Module 5: Registry Agreement, Registry Functions Activity Report: Removed total line for registrars as this report relates to registry functions;
6. 6.1, Trademark Claims Service: Updated to correct copy/paste error in sentence order: The Trademark Clearinghouse Database will be structured to report to registries when registrants are attempting to register a domain name that is considered an “Identical Match” with the mark in the Clearinghouse. “Identical Match” means that the domain name consists of the complete and identical textual elements of the mark. In this regard: (a) spaces contained within a mark that are either replaced by hyphens (and vice versa) or omitted; (b) only certain special characters contained within a trademark are spelled out with appropriate words describing it (@ and &); (c) punctuation or special characters contained within a mark that are unable to be used in a second-level domain name may either be (i) omitted or (ii) replaced by spaces, hyphens or underscores and still be considered identical matches; and (d) no plural and no “marks contained” would qualify for inclusion. Identical Match” with the mark in the Clearinghouse. “Identical Match” means that the domain name consists of the complete and identical textual elements of the mark. In this regard: (a) spaces contained within a mark that are either replaced by hyphens (and vice versa).

Read the ICANN announcement here.