Good Monopolies

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

>From Vince Wolodkin, in reply to John Palmer:
Well, they (the registry) can still charge $50 per domain name, or
whatever, they can
still make money, they just don't hold monopoly control.  Those of us
paying attention have seen NSI's monopoly, and don't like it.  Why
should multiple monopolies be any better?

To which Leo Smith contributes in reply:
The monopoly problems stemming from NSI seem to have developed a strong
bias in some contributors against any concept that uses words like monopoly
or exclusive.
The best way to illustrate the answer to Vince's question: "Why should
multiple monopolies be any better?" is to use real life examples of
multiple monopolies that compete with each other, much in the same way we
envision competition among Core members. Suppose that you live in a market
area capable of supporting 5 Fast Food restaurants. 
The SHARED MODEL: in one theoretical example of a shared model, 5 Fast Food
restaurants (substitute registries) would be assigned by a selection
process to 5 qualified operators. Imagine further that those in authority
with the power to assign the restaurants(substitute IAHC) to the operators
also had the authority to select what they believed to be the types of Fast
Food operations(substitute gTLDs) that would best serve the fast food
demand of community members(substitute Internet Users). After proper
deliberation, the deciding body determines that the five fast food
operations (gTLDs) that are approved include WENDY's, MacDONALD'S, KFC,
BURGER KING and SUBWAY. Suppose further that the Fast Food authority was
extremely concerned about fostering competition and avoiding monopolies, so
they came up with the following solution: EACH RESTAURANT (registry) WOULD
SHARE THE 5 COMBINED MENUs. 

The notion that to foster competition it is required that all registries
SHARE the same gTLDs is just as fallacious as the idea that all 5
restaurants would need to offer all menu items found in each of the 5
approved fast food operations in order to ensure competition among
themselves.

In the real world, the five restaurants own an exclusive franchise stemming
from an agreement with the franchisor. The WENDY's owner has a MONOPOLY on
WENDY's(the gTLD) within the geographic area defined in his franchise
agreement. Yet even with that monopoly, he still faces stiff competition
from other restaurants serving different fast food menu items.

Suppose that .law, .atty, .legal, and .divorce could each be a gTLD. If
IAHC grants an EXCLUSIVE license to MY registry for ONLY .law, and grants
another exclusive license to YOUR registry for .legal, and grants another
exclusive license to JOE'S registry for .atty, then those Internet users
interested in a law related gTLD will find as much competition among the
three registries as we find among WENDY's MacDONALD's and BURGER KING.

This is an example of multiple monopolies competing for marketshare the
same marketplace. If it works well in fostering competition among the fast
food monopolies, what rationale underlies the fear that it somehow won't
work with registries and gTLDs?

Leo Smith Capital Ventures Group, LLC
860 668 4000