Remember when Ross Perot criticized General Motors for being risk averse and decision impaired?  He said if a snake slithered in the board room, rather than kill it right then and there, they’d appoint a committee to study the options.  The same, it seems, can be said of ICANN.

In the face of criticism from brand and trademark holders, the Internet’s guardian for security, stability and competition appointed an Implementation Recommendation Team or IRT to study and offer advice on how to properly introduce new gTLDs.

Even before this IRT train left the station, it drew potent and credible criticism.  It has now offered its draft report.  As some might expect, it is not all that helpful.

Domain Name Wire, a helpful guide to the often dark world of the DNS, called the recommendations “drastic” and they come practically on the eve of the program’s implementation.  More though, and as is often the case, the prescription is bitter and helps only a few.  Note this from the report:

“…(A) Globally Protected Marks List would allow holders of worldwide marks to have them added to a ‘white list’…The requirements to be included are steep: ownership of the trademark issued in at least 90 countries across multiple regions with 200 registrations, must be issued before November 2008, registered the trademark across 50 or more TLDs, and the second level domain for the main company must be identical to the mark.”

If man is the perfect study of man, then the market can be the only perfect study for the demand and use of new gTLDs.  No one is arguing against brand and trademark protections, but to only argue is to let the side with the biggest megaphone dominate.  Even the flawed economic studies offered by ICANN are better evidence than the current “did not/did to” back-and-forth offers.

Let the market decide.  Free the ICANN gTLDs!

As of today, you can pre-order domain names from any new gTLD — those that have been made public or those you think should be created  – right here.

With ICANN giving the world the opportunity to operate vast new areas of the Web to compete with existing registries, like .com, .org and .us, we’re giving you the opportunity to get in early.

Our partner, Pool.com, a leader in domain name acquisition, auction services and secondary market sales, is hosting a dynamic list of gTLDs and is now accepting orders for names within any of them.

The list is “dynamic” because it will expand as communities and corporations announce their plans to apply for a new domain — there are about 50 right now.  And if you see the need for one not yet announced, let us know and we’ll put it on the list.

We think that the enthusiasm for the new web addresses will help prove the business validity of the program.  And by identifying interest in additional extensions we’ll encourage new applicant groups to form.

Placing a pre-order you will get in line now for the best names — names that can best represent you, your business or your special interest. Even better is that there is no fee until the name is secured for your use.

The mobsters in “The Godfather,” when the opposition starts to play rough, “go to the mattresses.“  That is to say they gather for protection without regard to missing dinner with their other families.  If the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is to be believed, it has placed an order for the beds to be delivered.

In a letter of protest to ICANN, the Olympic governing body has told the Internet governing body to obey the rules or face a lawsuit.

This is all a bit over-heated.  We are only at stage two — maybe half-way — in the process for rolling out new gTLDs.  The current revised RFP will lead to a second revision before a final is issued, likely by the end of September.  Of course, ICANN will incorporate brand and trademark protections.  It knows on which side its bread is buttered.  And, it responds to the threat of lawsuits.

But the noise obscures an essential point.  There is real value in the new domains and their names.  There are new businesses to be built.  There are global, commercial communities to form and rally.  And there are existing consumer-facing companies that can accelerate their one-to-one marketing.

It is the last that deserves a bit more attention.  If .amex or .wells or .pge existed, American Express, Wells Fargo and Pacific Gas & Electric could use the domain to create a web presence for each of their customers.  Sure, they could build it off their .com address, but the ability to integrate all their digital initiative in one place that is branded as tightly as those extensions are is a potential value wrong to overlook.

The rights of brand and trademark holders at the second and third levels, like Wells.bank or Amex@credit.card need to be sorted out.  But there is real money to be made.  Forget the mattresses; everyone will get a better night sleep if a deal is struck.

With the wider-ranging media beginning to tell the story of ICANN’s initiative to open up hundreds of new Internet addresses by moving to approve new top level domains (gTLDs), opponants have new fields to plow.  But try as they might, critics of the proposal are far outnumbered by the communities, groups and individuals who see the long-term value in owning a domain, not just renting a name.

The latest example came in USA Today, America’s widely circulated and favorite second read.  The story headlined ‘Turf Wars” and included this message of opposition:

“It costs companies hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, to enforce their trademark rights in the existing space, so imagine how expensive it will be when (a company) gets infringed in a thousand new domains…”  In fact, the behavior of trademark holders and brands is not so clear cut.

For people with vision, it is quite a different picture.  Protections can and are being built in to the process without choking off the potential for real, global, commercial development.  For them, the new gTLD landscape is like a briar patch and they are all Br’er Rabbit just hoping to get thrown in.

ICANN ought to be applauded for creating the opportunity.