166 Companies and Industry Groups Strongly Support “Do Not Sell” List for Brands as Part of ICANN’S Top Level Domain Expansion Program
February 3, 2012; New York, NY - A very broad coalition of 166 companies and industry groups, representing virtually every sector of the online global marketplace, today notified ICANN of their strong support for a "Do Not Sell" registry as part of ICANN's Top Level Domain (TLD) expansion program.
Under that proposal, which was first delivered to ICANN by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) on January 9, all NGOs, IGOs and commercial stakeholders concerned about protecting their brands when the TLD application window opened on January 12 would be given the opportunity to have those brands registered, without cost, on a temporary "Do Not Sell" list to be maintained by ICANN during the first application round. Any party that does not want to have their brands on the "Do Not Sell" list and would rather apply for a new TLD would be free to do so.
In the letter to ICANN, the 166 companies and groups stated: "We are asking ICANN to do nothing more than maintain the status quo for critical groups that have established serious concerns for a limited period of time, while the parties work together in good faith and avoid further conflict. It remains our sincere hope that ICANN will accept this simple, temporary solution or propose an alternative one."
Bob Liodice, ANA President and CEO, stated: "In his letter to ICANN on January 3, Assistant Secretary Strickling identified several specific issues that ICANN needs to address, including the perceived need for defensive registrations. Our proposal for a 'Do Not Sell' list is a reasonable, constructive approach that could easily be adopted by ICANN on a temporary basis to address this concern. So far, we have not had any response from ICANN. There are now 166 major companies and industry groups from around the world who are calling for this registry. We hope that ICANN and the NTIA will support this proposal and work with us on implementing it."
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About the ANA
The mission of the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) is to drive growth for marketing professionals, brands and businesses, the industry, and humanity. The ANA serves the marketing needs of 20,000 brands by leveraging the 12-point ANA Growth Agenda, which has been endorsed by the Global CMO Growth Council. The ANA’s membership consists of U.S. and international companies, including client-side marketers, nonprofits, fundraisers, and marketing solutions providers (data science and technology companies, ad agencies, publishers, media companies, suppliers, and vendors). The ANA creates Marketing Growth Champions by serving, educating, and advocating for more than 50,000 industry members that collectively invest more than $400 billion in marketing and advertising annually.
Press Contacts
Luna Newton, CooperKatz & Company for the ANA
lnewton@cooperkatz.com or 917.595.3061
Marcus Hardy, CooperKatz & Company for the ANA
mhardy@cooperkatz.com or 917.595.3043