Tag Archives: New gTLDs

Tue 14th July 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New York Times: Brokering Peace in a Domain Name World - New York Times article covers this week’s new TLD discussion in New York. I don’t typically write about mainstream news articles about domain names. When I do, it’s usually because the articles are inaccurate. But today on the New York Times’ Bits blog, author Saul Hansell wrote a well balanced description of the current battle between trademark holders and domainers titled “Brokering Peace Between Brand Owners and Domainers“. In the post, Hansell describes ... read more ...
Fri 10th July 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
The Australian Government Says No To .XXX - The Australian government said today opposes an .XXX or any other gTLD that would establish a RedLight District on the Internet. According to a story appearing in the Australianit.news.com.au, the AusRegistry, which operates the domain registry for .au, said that it has been approached by several entities planning to apply to register adult-themed gTLDs including, .xxx and .sex, however, a spokeswoman for Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the government was opposed to the creation of adult-themed ... read more ...
Fri 3rd July 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Comment Period For The Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) Closes On Monday: - We have talked about it since it came out, and now the time to put your comments on record at ICANN for the proposed Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS). The comment period closes on Monday July 6th. Although the URS on its face only applies to the new gTLD’s, comments made by representatives of ICANN clearly indicate that they will in fact apply to all existing extensions (.com. .net. .org) meaning all the domains you own sooner than later. If you didn’t read our initial post on the proposal set ... read more ...
Mon 29th June 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
IRT: Classic Case Study of How Not to Sell a Plan - The ICANN IRT needs a lesson in getting buy-in. Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT) was set up by trademark interests to come up with a way to protect trademark owners during the launch of new top level domain names. The process by which it was set up and operated could be a case study in how not to get buy-in for a new idea. I’ve worked with a lot of teams over the past dozen years and have had to sell ideas many times. I’ve managed groups of union workers, ... read more ...
Thu 25th June 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
It’s Official: ICANN Wants The Proposed Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) Rules To Apply To .Com’s - Back on June 1 we told you about a new proposal by the IRT a group of trademark holders who have committee status with ICANN and their proposal for a Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) for all new gTLD’s.  In that post we told you that this was going to be a problem for all domains holders, including existing extensions like .com, .net and .org. Today, in a very negative article on domaining,  entitled “Domain Name Wars:Rise of the Cybersqatters,  VP of ICANN Paul Levins made it clear that trademark ... read more ...
Wed 24th June 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Name News Worth Reading - Two articles you should take the time to read. Over the past 24 hours I’ve read two great domain name articles I want to pass along. The first is an editorial by Jeremy Rabkin, Professor of Law at George Mason University. Rabkin discusses what ICANN independence from U.S. oversight would actually mean. He points out that independence may be a bad thing, even for countries that disdain U.S. control: Down the road, one can imagine demands from Brussels that ICANN ... read more ...
Sun 21st June 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Wolfgang Puck Is Going After Some Tasty Names: .Food, .Wine, .Restaurant - According to a report, celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck is heading to the ICANN meeting in Sydney to support his efforts to launch new gTLD’s and has several new extensions on his menu. According to the report, he is a definite go with .Food and looking at .Wine and .Restaurant. Having someone of Mr. Pucks statue and reputation behind any of these brand couldn’t hurt, but you have to wonder if the Food Network is going to let him take over the .food extension without a fight. Likewise I would expect ... read more ...
Mon 15th June 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
.XXX Extension Heading To Arbitration To Beat The New gTLD Clock - ICM Registry’s top-level domain .XXX proposal is going to arbitration in Washington in late September. ICM Registry is asking for a three-judge panel to rule in favor of its application to serve as .XXX registry operator” because it met criteria set forth in a December 2003 request for proposal”. ICM Registry claims in more than a 1,000 pages of documents that ICANN acted inconsistently with its own articles of incorporation and bylaws in rejecting its application. ICM has been chasing the ... read more ...
Sat 6th June 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
.NYC Is A Hot Commodity - Most of our stories about the new gTLD’s are negative, as we think the releasing of hundreds or thousands of extensions are trouble for the net. However, there are definitely some of the new proposed extensions for which there is a lot of interest. For the proposed .nyc extension there appears to be lots of competition, with at least 6 groups going after the extension. The groups range from a real grass roots group called: connectingnyc.org run by Tom Lowenhaupt,  which he says he formed in 2006, ... read more ...
Thu 4th June 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Congress Finally Calls ICANN Out On It’s Finances - Florida Republican Cliff Stearns (a fellow Gator)  called ICANN out on its finances , noting that the last balance sheet the nonprofit group showed a $7 million surplus. “You should take that $7 million and make sure that cyber-squatters are gone,” he said. “I think your job should be not just developing a surplus but actually implementing,  making it cheaper for consumers,   and actually doing your mission.” Bravo. This is what we have been saying for a long time, especially after ICANN ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Verizon Testifies To Congress Against a New gTLD’s - The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Verizon,  testified in front of the House Energy and Commerce Internet Subcommitteepanel, which is holding hearings on ICANN,  that new gTLD’s shouldn’t be allowed unless there is a proven market demand for the names and the Internet is secure and stable. ICANN President Paul Twomey said in his testimony in front of the same committee, “There is a demand. Geographic names like dot.NYC and dot.Berlin are being proposed along with others like dot.sport, ... read more ...
Tue 2nd June 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
The ICA’s Take On The Uniform Rapid Suspension & What’s it’s Going To Do About It - The Internet Commerce Association (the ICA) has just released its statement regarding the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) proposal of the trademark group making up the IRT committee of ICANN. Yesterday we published a post, discussing  the IRT committee and their proposals to increase protection for trademark holders in the domain world and make effect that would have on all domain holders, the most troubling of which is the URS. Today the ICA released the following statement outlining their position ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Goes Back to Professor to Clarify New gTLD Demand - Original report author to address feedback. In March 2009 ICANN released two reports from professor Dennis Carlton of The University of Chicago about demand for new global top level domain names and competition. At the time, Domain Name Wire described them as “whitewash” reports. They were essentially propaganda pieces supporting ICANN’s view that there is demand for new TLDs, and showed that Carlton lacked general understanding of the top level domain ... read more ...
Mon 1st June 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
ICANN GuideBook 2.0 Comment Report: Still No Price Caps - In the almost 300 page report of the comments received on the new gTLD  guidebook version 2, the issue of most concern to domain holders, is still on the table. Despite many comments, including ours, calling for ICANN to place price caps on registries for the new gTLD’s for registrations and renewals, ICANN choice to keep them out. At issue, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. If the registries of the new gTLD’s are allowed to price registrations and renewals differently for ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Hate UDRP’s: Say Hello To Something Much Worse, The Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS): Get Ready To Lose Your Domains - Trademark holders, unhappy with UDRP’s, a system under which they already have over a 85% win rate, formed a group, The Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT), which was given committee status by ICANN’s Intellectual Property Constituency “to give additional protection to trademark holders  in the implementation of new gTLDs”. If you want to see a list of members of the IRT click here. The 68 page,  IRT final report was released late Friday night.  The committee which was suppose to ... read more ...
Wed 20th May 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Battle Erupts Between Domain Registries and Registrars - Existing registries fight registrars over registry-registrar separation. Registries: In this corner we have three registry providers, Public Interest Registry, Afilias, and NeuStar. They provide the backend and management of domain names such as .org, .biz, and .info, that are sold to customers by registrars. Registrars: In this corner we have domain name registrars hoping to profit from the release of new top level domain names. Issue: Until now, there have been ... read more ...
Mon 27th April 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Intellectual Property Group Suggests Protections for New Domains - Implementation Recommendation Team suggests drastic changes to existing protections for IP holders. The Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT), formed by ICANN’s Intellectual Property Constituency, has released its preliminary report (pdf) of suggested safeguards for trademark holders in light of the introduction of new top level domain names. The closed door and controversial group suggested a number of drastic changed from current trademark policy for domain ... read more ...
Tue 21st April 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Pool.com Starts Accepting Pre-orders For Domain Extensions That Don’t Exist - Talk about jumping this gun. Pool.com just sent out an e-mail inviting people to place preorders on proposed  gTLD’s. Problem is none of these extension exist or even have been applied for. As ICANN is still setting up the rules for applications for the new gTLD’s,  Pool.com is accepting pre-orders on such g’TLD’s as: .health .sport .xxx .sex .news .blog .movie .music Geo domains such as: .nyc .berlin .paris Pool.com’s announcement was sent jointly with a company,  quintaris.com, which ... read more ...
Tue 14th April 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Like To Play Poker?: Did Demand Media Give A “Tell” In Their Comments To ICANN - If you play poker or watch it on TV, your probably family with the term of a “Tell”.  If your not, this is basically something you do, a motion, a habit, something you say or do, that gives away what kind of hand you have. Its called a “tell”. Demand Media had some very interesting comments to ICANN regarding the new gTLD extensions. “We cannot see the benefits of limiting cross ownership of registries and registrars.” Demand Media (Demand) owns enom.com a registrar and seems to want ... read more ...
Mon 13th April 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New York: Deciding Between Domain Names and Trash Service - City points out an obvious reason why it may not want its own top level domain name. In comments (pdf) to Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), New York City Senior Counsel Katherine Winningham says application fees for new top level domain names are too high: “Based on the current economic situation and its impact on governmental entities, [New York City] again wishes to voice its concern that the application, operational, and dispute resolution ... read more ...
Fri 10th April 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Tim Berners-Lee’s Thoughts on New Top Level Domain Names - Inventor of world wide web opposed to introduction of new TLDs. In 2004, prior to the approval and release of the .mobi top level domain name, Tim Berners-Lee wrote a paper explaining the dangers of the introduction of new top level domain names. George Kirikos recently discovered the paper and summarized it in comments to ICANN for its new top level domain proposal. Kirikos’ summary and comments are below, but you can also read Berners-Lee’s entire paper here. (The ... read more ...
Thu 9th April 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Olympics to ICANN: We’ll Sue You - International Olympic Committee threatens legal action against ICANN over new TLDs. In a sternly worded letter to ICANN (here), International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it reserves the right to “take action against ICANN for damages resulting to the IOC or the Olympic Movement from the implementation of the gTLD proposal.” IOC is concerned about the time and expense of protecting its brand as ICANN rolls out new top level domain names, such as .web. That IOC ... read more ...
Fri 6th March 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Shouldn’t Regulate Morality - ICANN should strike moral objections from new TLD process. The new top level domain process includes a mechanism for TLD applications to be rejected on morality and public order grounds. This should be eliminated. ICANN doesn’t exist to determine what is and isn’t moral. In fact, I suspect it would rather not deal with the issue of morality and public order, but some of its international constituents want it to. So what’s an objection based on morality or ... read more ...
Thu 5th March 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Even The Pope Doesn’t Like The New gTLD’s: Tells ICANN To Say NO To Religious Extensions - The new domain extensions problem have reached a new “high” as The Pope has called on ICANN to keep religion out of the domain name system. The Vatican warned ICANN of the “perils” of allowing new internet domains such as “.catholic, .anglican, .orthodox, .hindu, .islam, .muslim, and .buddhist”. ICANN, could find itself having to decide who gets to represent an entire religion on the internet, His Holiness pointed out, in a letter from Monsignor Carlo Maria Polvani. Religion-themed domains ... read more ...
Sat 21st February 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Thinking About Applying For Your Own gTLD? It Could Cost You A Lot More Than $185K - Having reviewed the Second Draft of the New gTLD Guidebook released the other day by ICANN, it looks like if you are planning on applying for one of these new extensions, you better have a lot of cash on hand. We all know that the “Evaluation Fee” for a new gTLD has been set at $185,000. However that just where the money flow starts. Next there is a “Registry Services Review Fee”, if applicable, this fee is payable for additional costs incurred in referring an application to the RSTEP for ... read more ...