Back to the future of the Afnic Legal Service

But I’d still like to invite you to go back in time, and take a look with me at 365 days of work at the Registry Legal and Policy Department (DJPR), which I direct.

Ready?

• Private and public law contracts, legal analysis of all kinds:

– 29 cases of legal advice and analysis, mainly focusing on legal support for new Afnic products and services

–  67 contract analyses and drafts,

–  7 drafts of tender documents for companies to apply for public contracts (yes, compliant with the 2005 Ordinance since February 2013)

• Monitoring the activities of some 500 accredited registrars

– 22 checks (processing + follow-up of settlements): breaches of registration contracts, non-compliance with accreditation criteria, misuse of logo, defaults on payment etc.,

– 8 audited accreditations: a start…,

– 70 updates / month of the legal information on accredited registrars

– 8 insolvency procedures,

• Some 50 reporting forms for illegal domain names or that are contrary to public law and order: only 10 of them have been transferred to the relevant authorities for processing,
• 143 eligibility verification procedures for holders initiated after highly confidential investigations… which can lead to the deletion of the portfolio of an ineligible holder
• 338 requests for waiver of anonymity, processed on average in 1.7 days and accepted in 82% of the cases if the items in the case meet the required criteria,
• 216 support interventions by our operational teams to handle legally sensitive issues

• And one SYRELI overview,

– 213 cases processed,

– 630 letters sent, 38 college meetings organized, 195 decisions handed down,

– And one single appeal,

It is worth mentioning that since November 2013, SYRELI decisions have been available on Lamyline…

• Preparatory work on the deployment of a new extra-judicial procedure with the Arbitration and Mediation Center of the World Intellectual Property Organization (public consultation, regulation, platform and soon the selection of experts)

• Development work on new SYRELI features, including the partial reimbursement of applicants who have obtained a favorable ruling (for deployment in the near future)

• “Minor” litigation / dispute business: in handing down its decision on June 10, 2013, the State Council ended five years of proceedings after a decision concerning the unconstitutionality of Article L45 of the French Electronic Communications and Telecommunications Act (CPCE), which resulted in a new law.

By the way, this decision still made Afnic “a private organization with a public service remit.” Thanks to that decision, or perhaps because of it, we have ventured in the field of administrative law and discovered the delights of the obligations which will be ours from now on (as some of you will appreciate),

• Monitoring of Afnic’s intangible assets: 180 domain names and 41 registered trademarks,

• And at random: legal oversight, changes in documentation, updates to the website, etc.

In parallel, since its inception in 2007, whenever necessary, the DJPR has been in charge of updating the Registry Policies, including the organization of consultations with the community, hosting registry policy committee meetings, writing the texts and checking they are applied.

Note that in 2013, preparatory work was carried out to implement new naming opportunities for the .fr TLD that will be released by the end of 2014.

The team has also worked on writing guides and booklets to facilitate the resolution of disputes. We are already planning to expand our range of legal products in this respect.

Finally, we like to share with our eco-system and willingly make tracks: with no less than 10 interventions in 2013 (presentations, hearings, participation in working groups) including 3 at the Council of European National Top Level Domain Registries (Centr) as well as at the following:

– The French Fashion Institute (IFM), with a conference on counterfeiting and cyber-counterfeiting

– The French Pharmaceutical Companies Association (LEEM), with an presentation for the anti-counterfeiting committee

– Agency of the Immaterial Heritage of the State (APIE): “Booking and managing domain names”

– Interdepartmental working group on cybercrime: “Afnic and advocacy”

– Cyber-customs: “Afnic practices on domain name disputes”

I’ll stop this disconnected list here… perhaps you feel disoriented … but when you ask us for help, don’t forget that the DJPR is run by 4 people (4 women :-)) to serve one and all.

And for 2014, what projects does the DJPR have in store?

Well without betraying any state secrets, it will be continuity in the midst of change.

Stay tuned for our next installment…