Re: Limiting the number of registrars and gTLDs

["Leo Smith" <barter@ntplx.net>]

You wrote:
>Sharing also is a way to avoid giving preferential treatment to one
>registrar over another, on the theory that some gTLDs will be more
>'interesting' than others.  Hence, sharing is a way of ensuring a level
>playing field.

Would you examine the strengths and weaknesses of a hybrid model in which
exclusivity and sharing both take place. To illustrate by example, the
licensing model used in the celebrity/movie star poster market might serve
well.

Universal Pictures wants to earn royalties from a poster to be sold in
conjuction with the release of the upcoming  blockbuster movie "BATMAN".
The more access the public has to the poster in stores, the more promotion
the movie will receive and the more royalties will be earned from sales.
Since no poster company has sufficient distribution to cover all stores in
all markets (record, gift, book, etc), Universal will award an exclusive
licensing agreement, usually to the high bidder. The successful bidder may
have offered a $10,000 to $25,000 guarantee for the exclusive poster
rights. In order to ensure recovery of the guarantee, the winner of the
poster license now sells the poster to the other poster companies that did
not win the license. In that scenario, a retail poster selling for $4.00
has a wholesale price of $2.00 and a distributor price of $.80 to $1.00. In
volume, the poster carries a $.20 to $.25 cost of goods.

All poster companies have access to the Batman Movie poster, at a price low
enough for everyone to make money. The greater the number of poster
companies distributing the poster, the greater the access the public has,
and the more benefit comes to Universal, and to the poster company that won
the exclusive poster rights...yet all poster companies SHARE in the
distribution, and a piece of the financial reward.

With gTLDs, IAHC could , in step one, screen applicants to verify the
technical and financial levels deemed sufficient to operate a registry.
After the qualification process has been completed, the second step would
be to have IAHC submit to each registry qualified company a request for bid
on each of the gTLD's that are up for licensing. All potential bidders are
made aware that any exclusive license carries with it the requisite that
the gTLD must be sublicensed to all CORE members at a "wholesale" rate,
which could be a percentage of the licensee's retail price.

Here the licensee has exclusive rights to the gTLD, yet all CORE members
SHARE in the marketing and distribution. The number of exclusive licenses
available to any CORE member could be limited by IAHC.