President Clinton to Keynote at 25 Years of .Com Policy Impact Forum

VeriSign, the operator of.com, announced today that President Bill Clinton will deliver the opening keynote address at its Policy Impact Forum in Washington D.C. on March 16. This event is part of a larger industry-wide campaign led by VeriSign recognizing 25 years of Internet innovation.
In March 1985, the first .com domain name was registered, igniting the birth of the consumer Internet that, 25 years later, continues to globally transform communication, commerce and our society as a whole. In recognition of this milestone, VeriSign will host a series of events bringing together .com's many stakeholders -- including Internet luminaries, online businesses, policymakers, entertainers, consumers and more -- to look at how far the consumer Internet has come, while seeking to better understand the opportunities and challenges of the .com domain of the future.
"Over the last two decades, the Internet has created communities, transformed economies and made the world a smaller place," said Mark McLaughlin, CEO of VeriSign. "President Clinton has been at the forefront of this change, both during his Administration, when the Internet emerged as a social phenomenon, to today through his works with the Clinton Global Initiative and Clinton Foundation. We're delighted to hear his perspective as we mark the Internet's impact on our society and economy."

Baidu.com plans to launch online video site on QiYi.com

Baidu.com,a Chinese search engine,announced recently that they acquired the QIYI.com domain name for their feature online video website . This new media site is set to launch in March 2010 and the CEO will be COO Gong Yu.
QiYi.com will provide authorized high definition video content.

National Arbitration Forum announces changes to the domain name dispute resolution procces

The National Arbitration Forum has recently announced that some changes will be made to the domain name dispute resolution process. Therefore,starting March 1,the National Arbitration Forum requires that all the case documents to be submitted electronically.Moreover,supplemental rules will be required for all cases file on or after March 1,2010.
The complainant must not exceed fifteen pages,must "send or transmit its Complaint to the Respondent under cover of the Complaint Transmittal Cover Sheet posted on the Forum's web site.",and must also "provide a copy of the Complaint to the registrar of the disputed domain name at the same time the Complaint is sent to the Forum."
Some suggestions and reminders are being given by the National Arbitration Forum regarding this new process:
There are recommended the following types of electronic signature :
-scanned signature inserted in a document
-the use of /s/ to indicate an electronic signature

Domain News : DENIC Releases BR.DE Domain Name

DENIC have allowed the registration of the two-letter domain name BR.DE. The domain was excluded from the release of two-character domains affected in autumn 2009. Upon DENIC's objection, this temporary injunction was now rescinded. The domain name was subsequently registered at 15:00 on 18 February.

Everybody who was interested in the domain name was able to register it as of the above timeas long as the applicant did not infringe on any rights of others.

Due to the special nature of the release of the domain name, DENIC applied a special procedure for its release with registration requests only being allowed to be submitted by means of a special request form issued by DENIC.

For more information on the release of the domain name BR.DE and the process involved, see the DENIC announcements at:

* www.denic.de/en/denic-in-dialog/news/2530.html?cHash=cb30518676
* www.denic.de/en/denic-in-dialog/news/2532.html?cHash=bfed236ee6

AFNIC CEO elected as new CENTR Chair

CENTR is the Council of European National Top Level Domain Registries, gathering more than 50 registries such as DENIC for Germany (.de), Nominet for the United Kingdom (.uk) or Switch for Switzerland (.ch). The election took place during CENTR's General Assembly held in Warsaw on February 25 and 26.
Mathieu Weill, AFNIC's CEO, replaces Andrzej Bartosiewicz, from the Polish registry, NASK, whose term was coming to an end. The other CENTR Board members are:
Sabine Dolderer, DENIC (.de)
Alberto Pérez Gomez, Red.es (.es)
Annebeth Lange (.no)
Juhani Juselius (.fi), Treasurer
Mathieu Weill declared: "CENTR is a platform for exchange of information and best practices among members, but it is also a lively community, working in the public's interest. I will work both to enhance services provided by CENTR to its members and to raise our industry's profile".