RE: [registrars] Comments on Verisign Wait List proposal

[Paul Stahura <stahura@enom.com>]

Bruce said:
> 
> The key issue to determine is, is this a new term and 
> condition or price of
> an existing service (registration and renewal), or is this a 
> completely new
> service.   
> 

I am completely in favor of registry innovation and
agree with Bruce that we should do all we can to allow
all registries to produce new and innovative products
in a timely fashion.

I believe WLS is not a new service, 
although, to the uninitiated, it is cleverly disguised to look like one.
With WLS, the registry mandates that I must be the first to buy a WLS
subscription in order to register a particular deleted name.
It's like saying I must be the first to buy DNS service for
a particular name in order to register that name and then
saying that the DNS service offering is a new service.
And it would be if offered by itself, but not when coupled
to an existing offering.

Not to give a registry any new ideas but...
what if the registry offered an option service on new registrations,
for example, any registrar could purchase the option to register
new names that contained a certain phrase.  Names that contained
the phrase would not be sold to any other registrars.  
They could call it the "phrase reserved service" (PRS) 
or the "blocking service" (BS) and we 
registrars could then sell the option to purchase
any unregistered names (and heck, deleted names too) 
that contain the phrase "micro" for example, effectively blocking
for say one year,
the other registrars from registering millions of un-registered names
and deleted names.  Certain phrases would be priced more,
for example "x" would cost much more than "xyzzy".
Would this be a creative new "blocking" service, or a price increase
coupled with a change in access?

What if a registry offered the "trail basis" service, where you could
register
all unregistered names that contained a phrase for a period of say a month.
Then,
if you liked one or more of the names, you had the exclusive
right to register just those names normally.  Would the "trail basis"
service be a new service or change in terms of the current
registration service coupled with a way to charge slightly more
for names?

If any registry wannabe proposed services such as these
when proposing a new gTLD,
wouldn't ICANN and the rest of us critique the service,
understand the the proposed registry would negotiate with 
ICANN and come to agreement on the prices for these services?
What if the new gTLD registry unilaterally initated the service
without ICANN's blessing?

The registry already offers the purchase of deleted 
names for $6 per name per year on an equal basis to
all registrars.  
The WLS service would pre-empt this currently offered service
because certain deleted names would not be offered to any
registrar on an equal basis, but only to the registrar who
has already paid the WLS subscription fee.  It would be as
if the registry offered new registrations first to registrars
who paid a "no delay" fee (the higher the fee the less delay), 
and to other registrars who
did not pay the fee, they offered registrations but that there
would be a delay between requesting the name and actually
registering the name.  I would not consider
the "no delay" service a new service, just a price increase
on an existing service, coupled with a change in access on an existing
service.

I believe the WLS is not a new service, but merely a change
in access coupled with a higher price for an existing service.

Paul

If any registry would actually like to implement any of these
ideas, I will be imposing an intellectual property fee.  :>)