The International Olympic Committee has written to ICANN stating its unhappiness with the new generic Top Level Domain process saying they “uniformly request – in the event that ICANN does proceed to launch an unlimited number of new gTLDs – that the Olympic trademarks, including OLYMPIC and OLYMPIAD, be placed on the reserved names list.” In their opening paragraph the IOC also note they have “submitted eleven public comments to ICANN opposing its new gTLD program” and to date had not received a response. And if the IOC does not get what it wants, they say they “are prepared to employ all available legislative, regulatory, administrative and judicial mechanisms to hold ICANN accountable for damage caused to the Olympic Movement.” If the IOC had taken an interest in the process it would have undoubtedly realised that responding to every submission would be difficult and time consuming.

ICANN have published their expenses for the 2010 financial year, which are expected to exceed budget by around $3m, or about 5.45%, to close to $58m. The increase in budget is due to a number of issues outlined in two postings on the ICANN blog, including additional security for the ICANN Nairobi meeting, travel and other support activities for the beginning of the Affirmation reviews, additional new gTLD studies and executive staff costs, remote participation at the Nairobi meeting and translation and interpretation services. ICANN notes there financial position is strong with a reserve fund of over $46m, which “reflects investment gains earned while investing in a moderately low risk portfolio.” The postings by Kevin Wilson, Chief Financial Officer, also note ICANN has been improving its accountability and transparency with the FY11 Operating Plan and Budget that was recently adopted by the Board being “the most detailed ever for ICANN.” For more information, see the postings by Kevin Wilson on the ICANN Blog at: blog.icann.org/2010/12/update-on-icanns-finances/ blog.icann.org/2010/07/icanns-finances-at-a-glance/ David Goldstein

New Zealand’s porn king Steve Crow has spoken out against the proposed .XXX generic Top Level Domain saying it is a waste of time in a 3 News report. The report quotes Crow as saying that unless regulations force porn sites to change to the .xxx domain it will have a negligible effect on filtering, as adult content will remain in existing domains.

The number of .AT (Austria) domain names continues to grow with the one millionth registration expected in early 2010 according to the first .AT Report, a new publication on the state of the .AT ccTLD from nic.at.

Latona’s have issued the following news release regarding the upcoming auction of the CHEESECAKE.COM domain name at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.

A recent Australian Federal Court ‘Fast Track List’ decision confirmed that use of a trade mark in a domain name, along with use of the trade mark on associated web sites, can constitute trade mark infringement. This list is an increasingly important part of a trade mark owner’s arsenal in dealing with trade mark infringement and misuse of domain names.

NIC Bolivia has announced that as of April 1, 2010, second level “.BO” domain names prices charged to registrars were slashed by almost 35 per cent. No price change has been announced for third level (e.g.: .com.bo) domain names. Thanks to NameAction and LatinTLD for both advising of this update.

As part of the ongoing review of .nz policies, three policies are now being reviewed. The policies being reviewed are: Process on de-authorisation of a Registrar – Consultation, Transfer to another Registrar – Consultation and Roles and Responsibilities – Consultation.

As part of the ongoing review of .nz policies, three policies are now being reviewed. The policies being reviewed are: Process on de-authorisation of a Registrar – Consultation, Transfer to another Registrar – Consultation and Roles and Responsibilities – Consultation

Following Google’s move to leave China, the registrar Go Daddy has announced it to is going to stop offering .CN domain name registration in testimony before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. Go Daddy’s General Counsel Christine Jones told members of Congress that her company would discontinue offering new “.cn” domain registrations because of the new registration requirements that commenced last December. The requirements mean registrars have to give the Chinese government a colour image of identity documents, a business license where appropriate and a signed physical contract for each registered domain.