If A New gTLD Applicant Used His $185K To Buy Bitcoins Instead His Investment … - Back in May 2012 when the application period for a new gTLD’s  closed, the application fee was $185,000 per new gTLD string. At that time the value of a Bitcoin was trading at around $5.00. Instead of applying for a new gTLD string for $185,000 what if the applicant would have bought 37,000 Bitcoins, at $5 each. How much would have that $185,000 investment be worth today? Just about $30,000,000. So why would I tie new gTLD’s and Bitcoin’s together? Last week while I was in Argentina on ... read more ...

Sunrise periods for first wave of gTLDs are now open - ICANN, the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, has approved the first wave of generic top-level domains (gTLDs) for release. The introduction of new gTLDs triggers a mandatory 30-day "Sunrise Period" to give trademark holders the opportunity to register their existing marks for any new corresponding domains. In order to take advantage of the Sunrise Period, trademark holders need to have their trademarks registered with the Trademark Clearinghouse. After the ... read more ...

gTLD Registry Agreement under the microscope as brands make their voices … - ICANN’s new gTLD Registry Agreement has become the centre of attention of brand owners, with the organisation opening a new comment period on proposals to tweak the agreement to better reflect the operating nature of ‘.brands’. Meanwhile, the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPOA) has voiced trademark owner concerns over elements of the current agreement. On Friday ICANN has opened a new comment period centred on a proposal requested by the Brand Registry Group to incorporate ... read more ...

Brand TLDs Become Official - It seems that pigs can, after all, fly. From the start of its new gTLD program, ICANN ignored what was obvious to pretty much everyone else: corporations might wish to apply for their brands and run them as closed ecosystem TLDs servicing only the brands in question. No longer. By releasing a proposed addendum to its registry contract, called Specification 13, ICANN has done two things it has always said it would never do: acknowledged that "brand TLDs" should be considered in the new gTLD ... read more ...

Rewiring Internet Governance: Choice and Control (Part 2) - It is tempting to write off ICANN as a U.S. foreign policy lackey and that's all there is to say about ICANN. However, if the mantra for rewiring governance means "lets get ICANN" we risk missing forest for trees. ICANN is merely the symptom of a dysfunctional governance predicament that somehow (despite best efforts) skews oversight. Shapiro, for example, regards oversight as a "game" (1994). His "delegation dilemma" or "agency problem" stems from two options, neither of which are attractive ... read more ...

It’s "No" To .Polo - We've written about the new Generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) on more than one occasion. This refers, of course, to the process whereby companies and organisations can register names generic words, geographical names, brand names - as top level domain names. So, in the same way that there's long been .com, .net and .info, you can now have .bank, .google and .capetown. Some 1900 applications have already been filed. In a previous article we discussed the Trademark Clearinghouse, the system that ... read more ...

the National Association of REALTORS® Files Its 1st UDRP - Jay I said they did apply for .realtor in my post I think the actual applicant is a company set up by the NAR according to their application: The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), The Voice for Real Estate®, is the world’s largest professional association, representing greater than one million members over approximately 1,400 local associations⁄boards. The term REALTOR® is registered as a collective membership mark with the United States Patent ... read more ...

How Premium New gTLD’s Might Help Sell Your .Com Domains - Many of the new gTLD registries are planning on the old .TV pricing model to sell their premium domain names. Two large applicants Donuts and  Minds +Machines who between the two applied for 400 new gTLD strings, have both stated they indent to use the .TV pricing model which sells premium domains instead one for a one time payment in the four, five and even six figures and breaks them down by a factor of 1/10 and charges that amount every year as a annual premium renewal price. Like .TV pricing ... read more ...

Sunrise period opens this week on new gTLDs - On November 6, 2013, Donuts, Inc., a registry for new gTLDs, announced that the “Sunrise” period for seven of its new gTLDs will begin on November 26. The included extensions are: .clothing, .singles, .holdings, .bike, .ventures, .guru, and .plumbing. Similarly, on November 13, the company introduced seven more new gTLDs to “Sunrise” on December 3. The added extensions are .camera, .equipment, .estate, .gallery, .graphics, .lighting, and .photography. The “Sunrise” ... read more ...

Users urged to register .africa now - '; winimg.document.writeln(doc); winimg.document.close(); } //]] li>ul,.container,#coinslid {background-color:#ffffff} ul#serinfo-nav{border-color:#ffffff !important} .body2,.header_scroll,.headbg,.header_noslide,#footer,#rightsidebar,#navigation{background-color:#404040} #nav li a,.nav>li>a,.nav>li>a{border-color:#404040} #serinfo,#serinfo-nav li.current{background-color:#f9f9f9} .overrating,#sidebar p input[type=submit],span.ribbon,a#triggernav,a#triggernav-sec,a.fromhome,.imgwrap,a.mainbutton,a.itembutton,.page-numbers.current,a.comment-reply-link,#submit,#comments ... read more ...

New domains launched - Those interested in registering their trademarks before new top-level domains such as .guru, .shabaka, and .clothing go on sale should register with the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH). This is according to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which said the TMCH came into effect on 26 March 2013. ICANN plans to launch some 1,900 new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), it said in a press release issued on Wednesday, 4 December 2013. This new system will ... read more ...

New gTLD Strategies - It is hard to imagine a time when the Internet wasn’t ubiquitous. Through the evolution of the digital ecosystem, email, wireless connectivity, and the explosion of social media have revolutionized the way communicate on the Internet. ICANN recently released over 1,400 new top-level domains, set to roll out soon, which experts believe will change the how we understand the use of names on the Internet. But how much are brands really putting their ... read more ...

Seven new gTLDs available - Singles, plumbers and trade mark owners interested in new gTLDs may be interested in Sunrise Periods opening this week for several new domains. Sunrise Periods opened on 26 November 2013 for seven new gTLDs. This is the time when those with trade marks recorded in the Trademark Clearinghouse can apply for domains that match their marks. The new domains available from later today are: .SINGLES .PLUMBING .CLOTHING .GURU .VENTURES .BIKE .HOLDINGS These seven Sunrise Periods ... read more ...

Icann to release nine new top-level domain names - The Internet Corporate for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) has released details of nine new publicly available domain names including .guru, .clothing, .singles and .bike. The domain names will go live at the end of January next year. Other names made available include .ventures, .camera, .lighting, .voyage and .equipment. The new domain names mark the start of a massive increase in the number of top-level domains. Icann will be releasing new domain names at the rate of 10 a week and will roll ... read more ...

Nine new gTLDs including .guru, .singles, .clothing up for grabs - Nine new gTLDs including .guru, .singles, .clothing up for grabs Nine new gTLDs including .guru, .singles, .clothing up for grabs Internet Corporate for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has announced the availability of nine new gTLDs including .guru, .singles, and .clothing. To be made available from January 2014 publicly, the new gTLDs are currently available to all those organizations and ... Read More Internet Corporate for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has announced ... read more ...

New gTLD .LUXURY Offered to Public by Luxury Partners, LLC with NameJet … – Virtual - NameJet.com and Afternic, a GoDaddy company, are partnering to bring the new gTLD .LUXURY to the domain name marketplace. NameJet will oversee the Sunrise and Landrush phases of launch, while Afternic will assist with Premium Name selection and sales. Kirkland WA (PRWEB) November 26, 2013 Luxury Partners, LLC, awarded the .LUXURY generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) by ICANN, has selected NameJet and Afternic to manage the Sunrise, Landrush and Premium Name selection and sales phases of the .LUXURY ... read more ...

First Big Wave of New gTLDs Arrives with Donuts Opening Sunrise for 7 … - After years of talk new gTLDs have finally started arriving at participating registrars in significant numbers. Donuts, one of the biggest new gTLD registry operators, opened sunrise today ... read more ...

Donuts’ First New gTLD Sunrise Begins - As of 8am PST, our first sunrise has commenced @DonutsInc — Paul Stahura (@stahura) November 26, 2013   Donuts is one of the largest new gTLD applicants, and this morning, the sunrise period for seven of its new gTLD extensions has opened. Beginning today, trademark owners are able to register domain names that match their trademark(s) at a domain registrar like 101 Domain (visit their website for pricing and other important details). According to the Donuts website, the following new ... read more ...

If A New gTLD Applicant Used His $185K To Buy Bitcoins In May 2012 His … - Back in May 2012 when the application period for a new gTLD’s  closed, the application fee was $185,000 per new gTLD string. At that time the value of a Bitcoin was trading at around $5.00. Instead of applying for a new gTLD string for $185,000 what if the applicant would have bought 37,000 Bitcoins, at $5 each. How much would have that $185,000 investment be worth today? Just about $30,000,000. So why would I tie new gTLD’s and Bitcoin’s together? Last week while I was in Argentina on ... read more ...

We have new gTLD liftoff! - The first new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) have finally launched, and the 60-day Sunrise Periods for the following new gTLDs will open on November 26, 2013: .BIKE, .CLOTHING, .GURU, .HOLDINGS, .PLUMBING, .SINGLES, and .VENTURES. On December 3, 2013, the 60-day Sunrise Periods will open for the following additional new gTLDs: .CAMERA, .EQUIPMENT, .ESTATE, .GALLERY, .GRAPHICS, .LIGHTING, and .PHOTOGRAPHY. This is only the beginning of what will soon be a greatly expanded gTLD ... read more ...

London gets its own gTLD ‘.london’ - London gets its own gTLD '.london' London gets its own gTLD '.london' London is the first city in the world to have been granted its own gTLD ‘.London’ and will be made available to thousands of businesses in the city starting spring 2014. The government-funded promotional group, Dot London Partners, has ... Read More London is the first city in the world to have been granted its own gTLD ‘.London’ and will be made available to thousands of businesses in the city ... read more ...