The 61st international meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is taking place this week, from March 10-15, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Several Winterfeldt IP Group team members are attending ICANN 61.
ICANN 61, the first of three global meetings that will take place in 2018, is framed ICANN 61, the first of three global meetings that will take place in 2018, is framed as a community forum meeting, the traditional meeting format ICANN used for many years before switching to a rotating schedule of three different meeting styles. The San Juan meeting features a robust schedule of sessions for the GNSO Council (the body that develops global domain name policy) and the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), the body of over 175 country and territory representatives that advises the ICANN Board. The meeting will also offer sessions covering a number of specific policy development initiatives, updates on and working sessions for cross- community work streams, stakeholder and constituency organizational and outreach activities, and opportunities for a wide variety of community-wide discussions on key topics of broad interest.
ICANN held its traditional Constituency Day on Tuesday, March 13. Constituency Day is typically devoted to primarily open meetings of ICANN’s various constituencies and stakeholder groups, such as both commercial and non-commercial interests, contracted parties (registries and registrars) intellectual property owners, the business community, and average Internet users. These meetings allow each group to present their recent work and policy initiatives in detail to their membership and the general ICANN community, and may also feature presentations by ICANN staff, in departments such as compliance and policy, on topics of interest to the membership. In addition, some of the stakeholder groups have the opportunity to meet with the ICANN Board, and the GAC continues to meet as well. Working group meetings and other cross-constituency activities are typically not scheduled on Constituency Day, in order to allow ICANN attendees to join the sessions in their areas of stakeholder interest.
As with the preceding days of ICANN 61, GDPR and WHOIS issues are continuing to be a common thread and top discussion topic throughout most sessions. Please reach out to us at internet@winterfeldt.law if you are interested in receiving a summary and analysis of key takeaways from select sessions presented on Tuesday, March 13 in San Juan, including meetings of the Commercial Stakeholder Group, Intellectual Property Constituency, Contracted Party House, and Registry Stakeholder Group, as well as select sessions of the GAC and assorted groups’ meetings with the ICANN Board.
