LOS ANGELES – The independent review process of The Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will make its first important decision this September when a final hearing is held regarding ICM v. ICANN, an arbitration dispute that centers around the decision by the ICANN Board of Directors in March 2007 not to approve ICM Registry’s application for a sponsored .XXX top-level domain.

All parties to the dispute have submitted statements that are available on the ICANN website. In May, Vinton Cerf, the former chairman of the board, Dr. Paul Twomey the CEO and president of ICANN and Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi, the chairman of ICANN’s Government Advisory Committee (GAC) all submitted witness testimony suporting ICANN’s contention that the vote against implementing .XXX was not done because of pressure from the U.S. Government, as ICM Registry contends.

“I do not believe there is any basis whatsoever to challenge the Board’s compliance with ICANN’s Bylaws or Articles of Incorporationin connection with its evaluation of the .XXX sTLD application,” Cerf said. “To the contrary, the Board’s evaluation of TCM’s .XXX TLD application publicly, extensively and with great commitment; throughout the process, the Board acted in good faith and at all times afforded ICM an opportunity to be heard. The Board wa engaged on this issue as any other issue during this time period; there was an enormous amount of debate, and the members of the Board truly were committed to finding what they believed was the most appropriate resolution of this issue.”

ICANN’s official response can be read here.

Witness statements in support of ICM registry can be found here.