Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know

ICANN, the body that oversees internet domain names, has proposed reforms to help individuals and businesses fight cybersquatters. It plans to introduce a new system that would give the owners of domain names a 30-day grace period to renew their registration. It also plans to establish a waiting list for coveted domain names that become available to the public. Both reforms are ideas that VeriSign, the .com registry, recently proposed as business models.

Currently there is no formal procedure to enable domain name owners renew their contracts. Cybersquatters often register coveted domain names that have expired, before the original registrants renew their contracts. ICANN aims to address this problem by introducing the new system, which will give legitimate parties more opportunities to claim and register a lapsed domain name.

According to ICANN president Stuart Lynn, the proposals are part of a general plan to reform the organisation, which was established in 1998 through an agreement with the US government.

The meeting ends today with a discussion on a proposal to impose 25% tax on all domain name registrations.

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