Employ Media Ensures Continued Operation of .JOBS Platform; Files ICANN Arbitration Notice

CLEVELAND, May 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- In a strongly worded defense of the innovative .JOBS platform developed to serve both the international human resource management community and job seekers worldwide, Employ Media today filed a Request for Arbitration with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris, France, to resolve the Notice of Breach of Registry Agreement issued by the General Counsel for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) against Employ Media. Filing that Request enables the .JOBS platform to continue functioning as it automatically stays any further enforcement action related to the Notice, which was issued February 27, 2011. Since then, Employ Media and ICANN unsuccessfully participated in a Cooperative Engagement process to try to resolve the matter.

Employ Media Chairman & CEO Tom Embrescia said, "This filing was necessary to ward off ICANN's unwarranted and unprecedented threat of contract termination. That action created immediate uncertainty about the .JOBS TLD on the Internet and caused significant duress on our business." Employ Media's sole business is that of being the licensed operator with ICANN for the .JOBS TLD on the Internet.

The Notice of Arbitration contains a detailed history of the lengthy and thorough process that ICANN utilized in approving Employ Media's plans – not once, but twice – to expand the initial .JOBS platform from companyname.jobs to include combinations of geographic and occupational  domain names (like in the universe.jobs platform), such as newyork.jobs or marketing.jobs. The record shows that the company's plans were fully disclosed and debated during that process and were approved overwhelmingly by the ICANN Board of Directors.

Since that approval, more than 900,000 jobs are being listed on a daily basis from nearly 90,000 participating employers.  Well over a million job seekers have visited the network of .JOBS websites in the few months since its launch.

Embrescia said, "Those statistics provide powerful evidence of the need for and benefits of this way for employers and job seekers to connect directly and safely – at no charge. Furthermore, ICANN's Core Values call for 'introducing and promoting competition in the registration of domain names where practicable and beneficial in the public interest.' The benefits of the universe.jobs platform are one reason why the U.S. Department of Labor and the National Association of State Work Force Agencies have joined with DirectEmployers Association, which manages universe.jobs, in a special program to help our military personnel and their families find post-service employment quickly and easily by using the platform."

One human resources executive at a global company extolled the benefits of the revolutionary universe.jobs initiative by saying, "It's not some third party that came up with this idea. It was the employers; it was the leaders of this industry ... we went to Employ Media and the marketplace and said, 'We've got an idea for .JOBS. Let's see if this can work.' We've tested it out and we're really excited about the potential."  

Embrescia concluded, "While we wish filing this Arbitration Notice could have been avoided, we strongly believe we are operating within the confines of our Charter and the plans that ICANN previously approved. We are confident that the arbitration process will affirm that position and that both employers and job seekers will continue to be able to use the benefits of the universe.jobs platform operated by the DirectEmployers Association for many years to come."

Employ Media is represented in this matter by Crowell & Moring LLP (http://www.crowell.com) and Ulmer & Berne LLP (http://www.ulmer.com).

About Employ Media

Based in Cleveland, OH, Employ Media is the licensed operator of the .JOBS TLD on the Internet. Its role as registry operator makes it responsible for the allocation of domain names ending in the .JOBS suffix. .JOBS is established to serve the needs of the international human resource management community with policy formulation provided by the Society for Human Resource Management.

SOURCE Employ Media