Hello CPWG members. Last week, Greg Shatan presented a slide deck with proposed At Large responses to the review of Rights Protection Mechanisms in all GTLDs working group phase 1 initial report. There was no time for discussion -- but some of the items that could be interesting are presented here for your consideration. Please send any comments to the list today (May 4) as today is the deadline for submitting comments on this topic. Apologies for the last minute mail out. Slides # 23, 24, 25 -- Overarching Charter questions 182. General Overarching Charter #Q1. Do the RPMs collectively fulfil the objectives for their creation, namely “to provide trademark holders with either preventative or curative protections against cybersquatting and other abusive uses of their legally- recognized trademarks?” In other words, have all the RPMs, in the aggregate, been sufficient to meet their objectives or do new or additional mechanisms, or changes to existing RPMs, need to be developed? *Proposed response: Overall, the RPMs have been sufficient to meet their objectives. We * ** *see no need for new or additional mechanisms, or changes beyond those proposed by * ** *the Working Group. Our primary concern is with preventing various forms of DNS * ** *Abuse, and with improving consumer trust and safety on the Internet.* ** 183. General Overarching Charter #Q2a. Should any of the New gTLD Program RPMs (such as the URS), like the UDRP, be Consensus Policies applicable to all gTLDs? *Discussion: This primarily concerns URS. The ALAC view here should be consistent with * ** *prior views on the use of the 2013 Registry Agreement with legacy TLDs. Sunrise has no * ** *application to legacy gTLDs. The question of whether there should be Trademark Claims * ** *Notices in legacy gTLDs is a Pandora’s Box not worth opening* ** 184. General Overarching Charter #Q2b. If so, what are the transitional issues that would have to be dealt with as a consequence? *Proposed Response. Addition of URS (which is largely complete) to all legacy gTLDs * ** *would not raise any significant transitional issues.* ** ** 185. General Overarching Charter #Q3a. Will changes to one RPM need to be offset by concomitant changes to the others? *No proposed response. This is really too abstract to be worth exploring at this juncture.* ** ** 187. Additional Overarching Charter #Q1. Do the RPMs adequately address issues of registrant protection (such as freedom of expression and fair use)? *Question: Fascinating question, but is there a narrative we could develop or a consistent position for ALAC to take here?* ** ** 188. Additional Overarching Charter #Q2. Is the recent and strong ICANN work seeking to understand and incorporate Human Rights into the policy considerations of ICANN relevant to the UDRP or any of the RPMs? *Proposed response: As a general matter, incorporating Human Rights consideration into ICANN policy development is * ** *relevant to all ICANN policies, including RPMs. The question of how that should be taken into account, * ** *both generally and with regard to any or all RPMs, is beyond the scope of these responses and deserving * ** *of a process unto itself.* ** ** 189. Additional Overarching Charter #Q3. How can costs be lowered so end users can easily access RPMs? *Proposed response: While this is phrased as a general “end user” question, it is primarily relevant to end users * ** *with trademarks – individuals, businesses, non-profits, bands, etc. Many individuals and * ** *smaller businesses, as well as brand-owners in developing economies, have the same * ** *concerns as larger or better-financed trademark holders but may not have the experience * ** *and wherewithal to make use of the RPMs. The facile answer is that there could be financial * ** *supports or subsidies to open the RPMs to these end-users. Beyond that, there are also non-* ** *financial supports that have the effect of lowering costs for these end-users, some of which * ** *are discussed in the Recommendations. These include increasing offerings of translations, * ** *translation services, educational materials, model submissions, helplines or chats, and even * ** *pro bono legal representation.* ** **