What’s in a Name? - "What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet." Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II What's the difference between .local and .here? Or between .onion and .apple? All four of these labels are capable of being represented in the Internet's Domain Name System as a generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs), but only two of these are in fact delegated names. The other two, .local and .onion not only don't exist in the delegated name space, but by virtue of a registration ... read more ...

‘.feedback’ and ‘.sucks’ on criticism sites and trademark owners’ concerns … - Tim Lince In the trademark world, the high sunrise fees charged by the registries behind the ‘.sucks’ and ‘.feedback’ gTLDs have been one of the talking points of 2015. While trademark owners lament the potentially budget-busting annual registration fees being charged in sunrise, the registries themselves stress value for money and the desire ... read more ...

TRUSTED GLOBALLY TO PROTECT BRANDS ONLINE - The internet is changing, fast - mobile, social media and the new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) are fuelling exponential growth and fragmenting the landscape. This creates huge opportunities for companies wanting to optimize vital online channels, but also increases their exposure to serious and continuously evolving threats such as counterfeiting, phishing, cybersquatting ... read more ...

Yes, gTLDs Can Rank Just as Well as .com Domains in Google - The last couple of years there are have been a ton of wild and wonderful gTLDs unleashed, and some of them see a little on the crazier side.  Want to proclaim yourself a .guru?  Have a restaurant and want to use .bar or .menu? Want to be a .ninja?  While all these new gTLDs have mixed popularity, what about their value from an SEO perspective? Google has commented previously in a blog post that they treat all gTLDs the same as any other when it comes to their search index, something that both ... read more ...

.brands – the growth of new domains - In 2013, agreements were signed for the first batch of new sponsored generic top-level domains (gTLDs) under the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ (ICANN) expansion policy. Among the applicants for new gTLDs were 594 brand owners, seeking ownership of 675 of their own ‘.brand’ domains. .brand domains are defined specifically as those where the operator of the domain’s registry service is also the owner (or affiliate of the owner) of a trade mark registered with the Trademark ... read more ...

Google: new gTLDs are not easier to find - Google has reaffirmed that new gTLDs are not given greater weight in its search results. New gTLDs “are not treated any differently than traditional domain name endings like .com or .org”, according to Chad Lancaster, product marketing manager at Google Domains. He explained in a 10 December blog post that owners of .com and other traditional gTLD domains looking to move their websites to new gTLDs need to follow four steps to ensure that they are displayed in search results. Domain name owners ... read more ...

Latest podcast available: a new dawn for brands online - Tim Lince For World Trademark Review’s latest podcast we decided to delve further into the landscape of branded top-level domains (or ‘.brands’), following our infographic earlier this week. When ICANN opened the application window for new gTLDs back in 2012, few expected that more than 500 companies would apply for over 600 ‘.brand’ strings ... read more ...

gTLDs: Baby, you can drive my .car (for €3000) - December 2015 will see the launch of three generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs), all focused on the automobile industry.  However, the launch of .CAR, .CARS and .AUTO are unlikely to drive up domain name registration volumes due to the very high registration fees being charged by Cars Registry Limited, the joint venture that is the Registry operator for all three gTLDs. As reported in the May 2015 issue of Anchovy News, Cars Registry Limited is a joint venture between two Registry operators, namely ... read more ...

The current state of ‘.brands’: an infographic - Tim Lince Momentum is building on the use of ‘.brands’. Barclays Bank has transferred its primary website to a branded domain string (‘home.barclays’), while Sony has been promoting the new James Bond film, Spectre, on its ‘.sony’ string (‘assistmoneypenny.sony’). As more enter the fray, we thought it was a good time to summarise the ... read more ...

Security Firm Predicts Unprecedented Series of New gTLD Failures by 2017 - The cybersecurity firm, IID, is anticipating an unprecedented series of domain registry failures due to lack of gTLD popularity by 2017 in the form of bankruptcies and abandonment, leading to demise of websites relying on them. "Most new gTLDs have failed to take off and many have already been riddled with so many fraudulent and junk registrations that they are being blocked wholesale," said IID President and CTO Rod Rasmussen. "This will eventually cause ripple effects on the entire domain ... read more ...

gTLD Sunrise periods now open – November 2015 - As first reported in our December 2013 newsletter, the first new generic top-level domains (gTLDs, the group of letters after the "dot" in a domain name) have launched their "Sunrise" registration periods.  Please contact us or see our December 2013 newsletter for information as to what the Sunrise Period is, and how to become eligible to register a domain name under one of the new gTLDs during this period. As of the date of this newsletter, Sunrise periods are open for the following new gTLDs: .kyoto .feedback .OFFICE .family .cloud .REIT .wine .vin ICANN ... read more ...

IoT Botnets Will Be Major Problem By 2017: IID - The botnets are coming! According to cybersecurity firm IID, Chinese and Eastern European hackers are likely to take control of millions of new devices connected to the Internet of Things, and create a botnet army out them for various nefarious purposes. No, this is not the script for a new Terminator or James Bond movie, this is the projection of a major, well-regarded internet security organization. IID argues that there is simply no way that cybersecurity will be able to keep up with the ... read more ...

IID Predicts Massive Botnet Takeover of IoT Devices by 2017 – Virtual - TACOMA, WA -- (Marketwired) -- 12/01/15 -- IID, the source for clear cyberthreat intelligence, today announced its predictions for 2017 and beyond. After analyzing billions of pieces of cyberthreat data, IID anticipates Internet of Things (IoT) devices will increasingly become part of large-scale botnets, websites utilizing many of the new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) will go dark and China-based cybercrime will undergo a marked shift. IID ... read more ...

Watch: Why Brokers Need a .Forex Domain and Other Keys To Success - Over the next week we will be presenting a series of videos of the speeches and discussions featured at the London Summit 2015. If you were unfortunate enough to miss the summit, or did attend but missed out on a particular session, this is your chance to catch up.   “You need to find the right GTLD that fits with your community…how you want people to visualise your organisation and look for you- and you need to be found!” In today’s technology driven world, one’s ... read more ...

Views on ICANN’s First New gTLD Round From Flip Petillion, Crowell & Moring … - Views on ICANN's First New gTLD Round From Flip Petillion, Crowell Moring, Brussels Bloomberg BNA:How does your practice intersect with domain names?Flip Petillion:I have been practicing for nearly 30 years, and I've been in intellectual property for nearly the same period. I became familiar with domain names in the mid-nineties. I was one of the first panelists in the .be alternative dispute resolution procedure—comparable to the Uniform ... read more ...

Tobias Cohen Jehoram - Tobias Cohen JehoramPartner De Brauw Blackstone WestbroekTobias Cohen Jehoram of De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek explains why arbitration has proven to be an effective means of recovering domains in Europe How central are domain names to building a successful brand? They are becoming less and less central. Domains are associated with a successful brand, but few people search for brands by inputting a specific domain name into a search engine. Instead, they will type a brand’s name and a search ... read more ...

Four Key Takeaways From ICANN 54 - Keywords: Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, registry operators, brand owners, gTLD applicants The 54th meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) concluded on October 22, 2015, in Dublin, Ireland. As always, the ICANN community discussed several high-profile topics during the meeting, all of which are relevant to registry operators, brand owners and future new gTLD applicants alike. Topics included ICANN accountability issues, the scope of ICANN's ... read more ...

Company Shares of Rightside Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ:NAME) Drops by -2.17% - Rightside Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ:NAME) has lost 2.17% during the past week and dropped 12.93% in the last 4 weeks. The shares have outperformed the SP 500 by 1.52% in the past week but underperformed the index by 12.49% in the last 4 weeks. Rightside Group, Ltd. is up 11.79% in the last 3-month period. Year-to-Date the stock performance stands at 14.29%.The company shares have dropped 18.9% in the past 52 Weeks. On March 27, 2015 The shares registered one year high of $10.38 and one year ... read more ...

Discussion turns to future gTLD rounds as Google calls for a permanent window - Trevor Little The focus on the next round of new gTLD applications has often centred on the ‘when’. However, the ‘what’ is increasingly being discussed; namely, what form it will take – another round or a continuous window? Google has thrown its weight behind the latter, urging ICANN to abandon the concept of application rounds. ICANN’s ... read more ...