Fadi Chehadé mentions "a list" in his letter to Honorable Axelle Lemaire on .WINE & .VIN

"C'est la consécration" ;-)

The letter, made public last night, mentions "a reserved list of names". I personally want to congratulate parties in charge of protecting Wine Geographical Indications for reaching out to this conclusion.

Even if we did not have the chance to be thanked the same way as Honorable Axelle Lemaire in 2013 for informing ICANN about these exact same solutions, we are happy to read that these past two years were not wasted for nothing and that an agreement is to be found.

We also want to suggest ICANN (and Axelle Lemaire) to read our article dated April 22, 2013.

Extract of the letter: "The parties involved are now working on devising a mechanism which would offer protections to a reserved list of names, which would be contractually protected through ICANN’s registry agreement, along with a set of rules around how those names could be distributed to parties that have interests in and the rights to them".

Sources:

1. The letter (to be downloaded): https://www.icann.org/resources/correspondence/chehade-to-lemaire-2014-10-22-en;
2. Geographical Indications and Appellations of Origin are easy to protect: stick to the official databases: http://www.circleid.com/posts/20130403_hints_and_solution_for_the_protection_of_wine_geographical_gtld/;
3. Official letter sent by Project dotVinum to ICANN in 2013: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/2013-2014-01-24-en;
4. Why Donuts should do both .WINE and .VIN new gTLDs: http://www.circleid.com/posts/20130422_why_donuts_should_win_all_wine_new_gtld_applications/.

Wine Geographical Indications might be able to register their domain names with Uniregistry (in a close future).

Today : GAC Briefing to the ICANN Community - Protection of Geographic Names in gTLDs

Note this is about the future Round.

This session is to inform and exchange with the community about considerations regarding protection of geographic names in future new gTLD application rounds.

http://la51.icann.org/en/schedule/wed-gac-geographic-names

Statement of Commissioner Cioloş on domain names related to wine

Together with my colleague Neelie Kroes, I am following very closely on going developments on the moves by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to introduce two new internet domain names ".wine" and ".vin".

ICANN considers granting these new domain names without any specific safeguards for Geographical indications (GIs), as clearly requested by the European Commission and many governments. Under ICANN's proposal, everybody would be further allowed to apply for sub-domains such as chianti.wine, champagne.vin or porto.wine, including individuals or companies having no connection with these specific European wines.

This is simply not acceptable.

Geographical indications are a major priority in EU international trade negotiations. They represent a vital tool for protecting consumers and valorising the efforts of producers, not only in Europe, but in the whole world.

Under international rules (WTO) and several bilateral agreements with third countries, geographical indications and names of wines are protected as intellectual property rights.

This rule must be respected for the internet. In case of no agreement within ICANN to provide sufficiently robust safeguards for the introduction of new sub-domains, it would be preferable to avoid the creation of these domains altogether. I cannot imagine that a double standard would be applied.

Therefore, I will remain vigilant to make sure that we find a swift and suitable solution, meaning a solution that ensures consumers protection and the necessary legal and judicial protection of actors in the world economy. This is crucial not only to guarantee the credibility of the structures in charge of internet governance but also the long term credibility of internet itself.

http://ec.europa.eu/press_room

.VIN & .WINE - Buenos Aires GAC communique

The GAC took note of the developments on the two strings .wine and .vin from its previous meetings in Beijing and Durban.

GAC members have undertaken extensive discussions to examine a diversity of views on these applications, and the protections associated with Geographical Indications (GIs).

GAC considers that appropriate safeguards against possible abuse of these new gTLDs are needed.

Some members are of the view, after prolonged and careful consideration, that the existing safeguards outlined in the GAC’s Beijing Communiqué and implemented by the ICANN Board are appropriate and sufficient to deal with the potential for misuse of the .wine and .vin new gTLDs. These members welcome the Board's response to these safeguards, which prohibit fraudulent or deceptive use of domain names. They consider that it would be inappropriate and a serious concern if the agreed international settings on GIs were to be redesigned by ICANN. The current protections for geographical indications are the outcome of carefully balanced negotiations. Any changes to those protections are more appropriately negotiated among intellectual property experts in the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade Organization.

Other members consider that delegation of .wine and.vin strings should remain on hold until either sufficient additional safeguards to protect GIs are put into place in these strings to protect the consumers and businesses that rely on such GIs; or common ground has been reached for the worldwide protection of GIs via international fora and wide array of major trade agreements. Given this changing context, they welcome the current face-to-face talks between the applicants for .wine and .vin. and wine producers, aiming to protect their assets and consumers’ interests whilst taking into account governments’ public policy concerns.

The Board may wish to seek a clear understanding of the legally complex and politically sensitive background on this matter in order to consider the appropriate next steps in the process of delegating the two strings. GAC members may wish to write to the Board to further elaborate their views.

The communiqué.

My letter to the ICANN board regarding the Protection of Wine Geographical Indications

Reading and watching the ICANN new gTLD program development with its lack of protection for entire Communities and groups, I decided to send a few tips to the board with the hope they will have a look at it. At this point, it does not matter whether they can help or not because the program is not launched yet. If ICANN wants to protect Wine Geographical Indications: there is still time.

This is how starts my letter to the attention of Mr Fadi Chehadé, CEO of ICANN and other members of the ICANN board:

Object of the letter: "Hints and solution for the protection of Wine Geographical Indications in the ICANN new gTLD program."

Dear Mr Fadi Chehadé, CEO of ICANN,

As a person involved - since 2008 - in the wine domain names that have just been introduced by the ICANN new gTLD program, I have been very happy to point out that there were 4 new gTLD applications posted on Reveal Day, June the 13th 2012: 3 applications for the .wine Top-Level Domain (in English) and one for .vin (in French).
Even if these applications are standard ones, it shows there is - definitely - a Wine community on Internet.

As I do not like to "multi-post", the rest of this letter should be published online soon and it is possible ICANN publishes it in its correspondences.

Update (April the 4): the article was published on CircleId with 719 views already.

Why won't ICANN protect wine Geographical Indications?

EFOW to ask ICANN about Geographical Indications

This is a letter from EFOW which asks ICANN regarding the protection of wine Geographical Indications (and more) in the new gTLD program.

Sender's Affiliation: 
European Federation of Origin Wines

Issue:
ICANN initiatives for the attribution of new gTLD - PDO and PGI wines’ concerns.
Letter from the European Federation of Origin Wines regarding Geographical Indications.

Letter from Riccardo Ricci Curbastro to Steve Crocker, Cherine Chalaby, Fadi Chehadé and Akram Atallah | ICANN

Total protection requested for Geographical Indications under .VIN, .WINE and all other TLDs

In its letter recently sent to ICANN, the European Federation of Origin Wines, a Brussels based-organisation representing PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) and PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) wines towards European and International institutions, would like to bring to ICANN's attention a crucial issue for the safeguard of the wine sector concerning the attribution of new generic top-level domains (gTLD).

EFOW is concerned that this new procedure could lead to the abuses of its members' Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs).

Read the letter "en avant-première" on CircleId.