Dear Greg and DT-IPR members:
During one of the previous DT-IPR calls, five questions relating to IANA IPR were raised for ICANN staff. Please find below answers to these questions. If there is any additional information that we can provide to inform the discussion, please do not hesitate
to let us know.
1. What is the cost to set up a trust (to house the IANA IPR) with the 3 operational communities as beneficiaries?
The total costs to set up a trust and apply for 501c3 status is expected to be around $30-$50K. The most time-consuming part of the trust formation is expected to be the development of the terms of the trust, which is necessary whether the community decides
to go with an existing or a new trust. The key terms being:
- Identifying the trustee and trust directors, and the method of their selection;
- Identifying the beneficiaries of the trust;
- Listing the property to be held by the trust;
- Describing purposes of the trust which will inform its administration and interpretation;
- Listing the general and specific duties of the trustee and trust directors;
- Establishing the governing law and venue for disputes;
- Setting forth dispute resolution mechanisms;
- Providing mechanisms for amendment of the trust instrument; and
- Providing enforcement mechanisms of the trust.
The operational communities will need to reach agreement upon the above terms for the trust instrument. Many of these items could be handled simply, such as processes for selection of trustees could borrow from the ICANN Board selection processes already
in existence across ICANN, and the scope of the trust property (the IPR) has already been determined. The operational communities that will serve as the beneficiaries of the trust would need to be in agreement across all the terms. Notably, even if an existing
trust were used to house the IANA IPR, specific terms for the treatment of new trust property (the IANA IPR) would still have to be developed to confirm that the beneficiaries are appropriately identified and agreeable to the terms of how the IPR will be held
and maintained. Therefore, the most time consuming part of the process – the development of the terms of the trust to assure neutrality – would be present if the IPR went into an existing or a new trust.
2. How much time and effort would it take to set up such a Trust?
See above
3. What are all of the IANA related trademarks that ICANN currently owns?
“Internet Assigned Numbers Authority”, “IANA”, the IANA logo, and by extension the IANA domain names
4. Has ICANN licensed any of these trademarks?
See below.
5. If yes, what quality control and enforcement has ICANN performed as owner of these trademarks?
ICANN has licensed the use of many of its trademarks as appropriate, through the use of royalty-free licenses. ICANN has imposed style and usage guidelines to ensure the consistency of use of the marks internally and when licensed to other entities. ICANN
has experienced IP counsel that assists ICANN in its efforts to maintain and enforce all of the marks.
Warm regards,
Trang