The "duck test" doesn't fly here. If Neulevel had the sunrise policy preferred by INTA and other IP constituencies, it would allow TM owners to obtain vast numbers of domain names before the general public had a chance to apply. (See, e.g., the .info sunrise plan.

Feh. The fact that various forces have proffered an ultraist definition of a "sunrise" hardly means that any less restrictive implementation is therefore not a sunrise. INTA et al. were certainly aware that whatever they proposed would be subject to reveision; they therefore have a strong incentive to make extreme proposals. The consequence, as I said, is to privilege commercial interests. In some cases, this can surely be appropriate; but the problem with the ICAN process in this regard is that the IP zealots regard the entire namespace as theirs first. We're left with only minor variations within that basic model.

Even at $90 per claim, it's a reduction in transaction costs for both sides [...]

It isn't at all clear to me why reducing the costs of a challenge is a virtue; there would be much to be said for increasing the costs. And that needn't be based on service costs; it could just as eaily involve a bond of some kind, as a mechanism for deterring specious challeneges. But these observations, I'll hasten to add, are general, not specific to .biz.

Add to this the complete impotence of the STOP plan (how on earth does one prove bad faith registration, when there's no opportunity for the registrant to use the domain name to demonstrate that bad faith?), and it starts to look like Neulevel is fleecing TM owners in the name of "protection."

Well, the spotty results of UDRP rulings make it quite clear--beyond the risible incompetence and negligence of many panelists--that "bad faith" is completely inadequate category for examining the phenomena at hand. And whose fault is that? As to NeuLevel "fleecing" TM owners; my own view is that all but the most restricted understandings of TM constitute quite a fleecing in their own right, of the public weal. So now the TM service industry is conning its clients? Tragic.