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<p><strong>28 June 2007</strong></p> <div class="post">
<h3 class="storytitle" id="post-672">TLD Or Not TLD For Cities? Berlin Senate Wants Out</h3>
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<p>By Monika Ermert for <em>Intellectual Property Watch</em><br>
A fight has begun over the virtual existence of Germany's capital: Does
a .berlin address space have a right to exist beside the old standby
<a href="http://berlin.de">berlin.de</a>? The outcome of the fight could have a broader effect on the
future of city names on the Internet. </p>
<p>After
a recent hearing at Berlin's City Parliament, Michael Donnermeyer,
speaker of the Berlin Senate, said the right to the name Berlin
belonged to the city and has to be protected. For the young company
dotBerlin GmbH that is applying for a new city top level domain (TLD)
with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN),
the Senate's blockade could kill a long-nurtured project and could set
a bad example for other initiatives like .london, .paris or .nyc,
sources said.</p>
<p>The core question to be answered is whether name
and trademark rights block geographic TLDs. This had been a concern of
experts discussing proposals for ICANN's planned procedure to introduce
new TLDs (<a href="http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=575&res=1600_ff"><em>IPW</em>, Internet and Communications Technology, 2 April 2007</a>).</p>
<p>In
summer 2005, dotBerlin took the stage to ask ICANN for a quick opening
of a new round of TLD applications or a regular process for assigning
new zones beside the classical .com,.net, .org, .info, .biz or the
so-called country code TLDs like .de for Germany. With some of the
attractive zones already heavily populated - .com has nearly 70 million
domains, .de over 10 million - there was a perceived need to farm new
virtual grounds. "Geo" TLDs are seen by many as a natural way to create
spaces for large communities. Population-wise, dotBerlin CEO Dirk
Krischenowski wrote in an article, "the average metropolis outranks 50
percent of all countries."</p>
<p>Krischenowski's idea and his
standing up at every single ICANN meeting since finally got some
traction. Thomas Lowenhaupt, interactive marketing consultant and
long-time member of one of New York City's community boards agreed with
Krischenowski on how indispensable a virtual home is for the modern
city dweller. </p>
<p>At a high-level ICANN meeting this week in San
Juan, Puerto Rico, besides .berlin and .nyc, a project for .paris was
presented, and an idea for a .baires (Buenos Aires) TLD discussed. For
the next round of TLD introductions starting next year, applications
are expected from at least half a dozen city and regional TLDs, like
.cym for Wales, .gal for Galicia and perhaps some language-based TLDs
from tribal nations in Latin America could be expected, said Werner
Staub, secretary of the Council of Registrars, a Geneva-based
international association that expects to provide back-end registry
services for the regional TLDs. </p>
<p>"As we go forward, every day
we do not have a space on the net where we can present ourselves is a
tragedy," said Lowenhaupt. In New York City, with its many immigrants
and business start-ups, the need for new addresses is seen as vital.
"You cannot get a decent name on .com," said Lowenhaupt, and long-tail
names under .us, like <a href="http://hilton.hotel.nyc.us">hilton.hotel.nyc.us</a>, are less attractive.</p>
<p>Lowenhaupt
had hoped for a .nyc domain years before after the Community Board of
Queens passed a decision asking for .nyc in spring 2001. But after the
September 11 attacks there were other things to deal with, and when
ICANN started a new round to assign TLD space in 2003 the city was too
busy with its application to host the Olympics to answer Lowenhaupt's
recommendations, he said.</p>
<p>Lowenhaupt said it was always clear
that city support was crucial for a potential manager for a .nyc zone.
And according to him, there is some precedent in the United States in
the cities' licensing of cablecasters and the latter's obligation to
provide for community channels. As is done for community channels,
there should be an agency or a non-for-profit entity that works in the
interest of citizens, managing the public resource, Lowenhaupt argued.</p>
<p>Lowenhaupt,
meanwhile, set up a non-profit corporation and said he is focussing on
the best possible governance structure. The holding of elections by New
York Citizens for the Board for the .nyc managing corporation is one of
the possibilities being explored, said Lowenhaupt. Could anybody then
be opposed to address space for citizens? he asked. </p>
<p>Yes, if
you believe the administration in Berlin. "We have decided after
lengthy deliberations to not support dotBerlin's application," said
Donnermeyer. "Mainly there are three reasons. First, we do not want to
intervene in the market," he said. A position on the board of dotBerlin
offered "as a compensation to use the name" for the city government
would mean they had not only to share responsibility for names like
porno.berlin, but would participate in the selection of names like
hotel.berlin or taxi.berlin. </p>
<p>"The state is obliged to
neutrality," said Donnermeyer. (The argument is reminiscent for those
familiar with the just closed ICANN application round for sponsored
TLDs where the controversial .xxx got voted down by the ICANN board
partly for the reason that it was expected that ICANN would be dragged
into responsibility for breach of content rules on the adult industry
TLD.)</p>
<p>The second reason to deny support for .berlin, according
to the spokesman, is that the Senate did not expect the concept of city
TLDs "to have as much of a future as expected". There were many cities
where the concept did not work, said Donnermeyer, because of diverse
spellings, like Roma, Rome or Rom or Munich's dilemma between
international or national spelling, including: Munich, Muenchen or
München.</p>
<p>This argument puzzles Lowenhaupt. "I do not know how
Munich is spelled in German," he said. "But the people of Munich can
choose one of those spellings or another for themselves." For New York
this looked easy, he said, and "to have the rest of the world find us
is second. I think the first thing is we have to take care of our own
business."</p>
<p>Confusingly similar domain names?</p>
<p>The last
reason given by Donnermeyer is about existing contracts and money and
perhaps it is the most important reason for the Senate. "We have a
well-known trademark <a href="http://berlin.de">berlin.de</a>," said Donnermeyer, "with 27 million
people coming to visit every month. And we would compete with our own
portal if we would support .berlin." The portal is managed by
BerlinOnline, whose main owner is a large Berlin publishing house.
Donnermeyer said the Senate risked damage claims if he turned to
.berlin. After years of work marketing <a href="http://berlin.de">berlin.de</a> that also gave home to
citizens and industry it would not make sense to change horses, "even
if the .berlin idea has some marketing charm."</p>
<p>That dotBerlin
still is working on the application, disregarding the Senate's decision
is "naïve," said Donnermeyer. He called attempts to gather support from
the City Parliament since "somewhat dishonest." "We had informed
dotBerlin about our decision early in 2006, but they still continued
their activities," said Donnermeyer. The money spent since - dotBerlin
calculates an investment of about a million euros for the application
process started in 2005 - could have been saved, according to
Donnermeyer.</p>
<p>And the decision is final, he said. Even if
parliament decided against the Senate's decision, "we would not be
bound by this," he said. "We are obliged to save the community from
financial damages." And how would the city react if somebody else, for
example one of the many other Berlins in the world that dotBerlin is in
contact with, were to apply for a .berlin TLD? "I do not think people
would go there. We are the Berlin that people want."</p>
<p>But
Johannes Lenz-Hawliczek, who is responsible for press and public
relations at dotBerlin, said, "Somebody else will pick up the idea."
The company is far from giving up despite Donnermeyer's statement, and
has support from the community, he said. Board members come from
national and Berlin industry, nongovernmental organisations and even
competitor Denic, which manages the .de. At the parliamentary hearing
every expert testified for .berlin.</p>
<p>The company, meanwhile,
has expert studies challenging the competency of the Senate to
unilaterally decide on the issue. "We still think there are
misunderstandings about how a .berlin would affect <a href="http://berlin.de">berlin.de</a>," said
Lenz-Hawliczek, eager to keep the door open for talk. "We think
<a href="http://berlin.de">berlin.de</a> would even profit." </p>
<p>In fact, it is not possible
for business or citizens to get their own .berlin.de domain. So far
they can only get basic services such as an email address for example.
The 27 million number quoted by Donnermeyer were page impressions
according to official statistics and while the site was much in use for
e-government services of the city, .berlin might allow second-level
domains for citizens and industry.</p>
<p>DotBerlin now looks forward
to a proposal, tabled at the city parliament, to support it after all.
Germany's national parliament already passed a resolution that welcomes
a possible .berlin TLD. </p>
<p>In the end it is ICANN that might
receive an application and be left to sort it out if it will consider a
letter by local administrations, national parliaments or a "community."
For the moment, Lowenhaupt said, "we don't know what type of approval
we need." This might be a proclamation of a mayor, or the city council,
or a law. Lowenhaupt said he was aware of the possibility that somebody
could have asked for another string for the city, for instance
.newyork, or that somebody else may have applied for .nyc.</p>
<p>The
city will have to decide if it wants competition and who is the best
operator, he said. Lowenhaupt's strategy in the game is simple: When
officials turn their attention to the issue and to his non-profit
application, he said, they just should say "yes, this is the ideal
structure." </p>
<p><em>Monika Ermert may be reached at <a href="mailto:info@ip-watch.ch">info@ip-watch.ch</a>.</em></p>
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<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Anne-Rachel Inne