ICANN gives Verisign’s .com contract the nod
ICANN’s board of directors has approved Verisign’s .com registry agreement for another six years.
In a closed meeting on Saturday, the results of which have just been published, the board decided against making any of the changes that had been suggested by the community.
There had been a small uproar over the fact that Verisign will retain the right to increase its .com registry fee by 7% in four out of the next seven years.
The new contract also rejiggers the fees Verisign pays ICANN to bring them more into line with other registry agreements. As a result, ICANN will net millions more in revenue.
Other parties had also asked for improved rights protection, such as a mandatory Uniform Rapid Suspension system, and for the current restrictions on single-character domain names to be lifted.
But the board decided that “no revisions to the proposed .COM renewal Registry Agreement are necessitated after taking into account the thoughtful and carefully considered comments received.”
The agreement will now be forward to the US government for approval. Unlike most registry contracts, the Department of Commerce has the right to review the .com deal.
The current contract expires November 30.













Recent Comments
.Tokyo results were never announced, so ICANN don't have to retract them, but it is indeed a material change to applicat... read more
Hmmm is this interesting! Wonder if this signifies the strings they are okay losing for a larger pot of gold to secure ... read more
Interesting point about .tokyo Ruben. So this makes me wonder if a re-evaluation is necessary as this appears to be a m... read more
"Multiple registrars, resellers and affiliates" => check on both Tucows and Logic Boxes. I'll ask Fly9 for a services... read more
To my knowledge, Fly9 is the only provider that enables multiple registrars, resellers and affiliates for a given TLD on... read more
GMO Registry probably got their CQS for .Tokyo (priority number 199) circa January 31, which would make their deadline e... read more
@Hiro Tsukahara: Please email me your direct email contact to marekgubala[at]email.cz, as I would like to send you so... read more
Hi Kevin, Let me clarify this -- GMO Registry hasn’t flunked any of its applications. Our IE results have simply been... read more
Tucows, Hexonet and TLD Registrar Solutions goes pretty much in the same direction as well.... read more
Anonymous, above, is correct that I cannot look at staff issues as these are excluded under my bylaw. It says, "the Ombu... read more