ROOTS: Frank Schilling, Uniregistry, Join ICA; Group Sees Busy Year With Slew of Issues

PALM BEACH, FL – According to an internal membership notification, this past week, Frank Schilling, known for amassing one of the world’s most valuable domain name portfolios as well as building one of the most robust domain name platforms in the industry, “Uniregistry,” has returned to the Internet Commerce Association as a “Gold” member; there are currently five (5) membership levels (Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Individual).

The ICA has been especially busy this year with a slew of issues which effect domainers around the globe. Here are some stories which came out over the last year or so where ICA was either the news maker itself or mentioned for their work. This will also give nonmembers or those not familiar with the group, and idea of what they do all year.

• Verisign’s Attempt to Increase its Fees Still Unjustified Despite Diversionary Tactic – by Zak Muscovitch, CircleID
• ICA Asks ICANN for Explanation of .org Decision by Konstantinos Zournas, OnlineDomain.com
• UDRP Panelists: Getting the Standard Right Where No Response is Filed – by Zak Muscovitch – CircleID
• Internet Experts Are Worried About the Sale of the .Org Domain by Jessica Messier, MyTechDecisions.com
• The Hidden Perils of Filing a Baseless UDRP Complaint – by Zak Muscovitch, CircleID
• Withhold Approval for Ethos Transaction and Terminate .Org Registry in Respect of any Consummated Sale Agreement – by Zak Muscovitch, ICANN.org
• ICA Statement on ADO.com UDRP Decision: Overreaching Panelists and Interference With Domain Market by Internet Commerce Association (Sponsored Post at CircleID)
• What Internet Commerce Association Is Working On by Andrew Allemann, DomainNameWire.com
• Girl Scouts, YMCA, Join Protest Over Sale of .org Domain by BBC.com
• Internet Commerce Association Launches Withering Attack on ICANN Accusing the Organization of a “terrible blunder” by Lifting Pricing Restrictions on .org Domain Names by Kevin Murphy, DomainIncite.com
• ICANN Urged By ICA To Reject .com Price Increases by WN.com
• ICA Rallies The Troops To Defeat .org Price Hikes. It Won’t Work by Kevin Murphy, DomainIncite.com
• Private Equity Is Going to Ruin the .Org Domain System and Screw Nonprofits by Karl Bode, Vice.com
• ICANN Demands Transparency From Others Over .org Deal. As For Itself… Well, Not So Much, by Kieren McCarthy, The Register
• Internet Commerce Association Calls for ICANN to Withhold Approval of .Org Sale by CircleID
• 2020 Lonnie Borck Memorial Award Nominations Are Open by Andrew Allemann, DomainNameWire.com
• Responding to “The Case for Regulatory Capture of ICANN” by Greg Thomas, CircleID
• RE: NTIA Notice of Inquiry – International Internet Policy Priorities – National Telecommunications and Information Administration
• Should ICANN Staff Be Fired Over The Outrageous .org, .info, .biz And .asia Proposed Registry Contracts? George Kirikos – FreeSpeech.com
• ICANN: All Your Base Agreement Are Belong To Us by Andrew Allemann – DomainNameWire.com
• Hundreds of Millions of Dollars at Stake as .COM Price Freeze Set to Expire, Kamila Sekiewicz, Press Release
• ICA Responds to Rick Schwartz Call for Action by Elliot Silver DomainInvesting.com
• Internet Commerce Association Says Increases in .COM Registry Fee Unjustified by David Goldstein, DomainPulse.com
• ICANN: Do Not Allow Verisign To Raise .com Pricing! – Change.org
• WIPO Conference – As the UDRP Turns 20: Looking Back, Looking Ahead by WIPO
• ICA To Hold Public Update For Domain Owners by Andrew Allemann – DomainNameWire.com
• Australian Entrepreneurs Up in Arms Over Proposed Rules That Could Ban .AU Domain Investing by Ron Jackson, DN Journal
• ICA Webinar: Registry Agreements, UDRP Reform, Price Increases & More by DomainSherpa

The above list are just the ones I could find fairly easily, with the help of Google of course.

Frank Schilling’s return is significant as he was one of five founding members of the organization well over ten years ago in 2006 (iREIT, Oversee.net, Sedo.com, Name Administration and the World Association of Domain Name Developers) It seems [at least to me] to suggest there is a new found importance being recognized for what seems like the single group actually working to protect the rights of domain name owners and registrants.

John Colascione

About The Author: John Colascione is Chief Executive Officer of SEARCHEN NETWORKS®. He specializes in Website Monetization, is a Google AdWords Certified Professional, authored a how-to book called ”Mastering Your Website‘, and is a key player in several online businesses.