gTLD Strategy

In the fall, we wrote a “State of Play” blog post to give readers an idea of what the field of new gTLD applicants would look like once the application period opened. Well, now that we are about halfway through the application period, which will remain open for just under six weeks, it’s high time we provided readers with an update.

Back then, we could only say for certain that two companies, Canon and Hitachi, were going to pursuing a “dot brand” presence by applying for .CANON and .HITACHI. In the past few months, certain other companies have come forward about their “dot brand” plans, including StarHub, a Singapore-based telecom (.STARHUB), and the Australian Football League (.AFL). We have also heard about additional applications for other strings, including .MLS and others. That said, the vast majority of dot brand applicants are still keeping their plans under wraps.

Here at FairWinds, the majority of our clients are strategic companies, many of which have globally recognized brands. For the most part, they are also choosing the “dot brand” path for new gTLDs, registering their primary company names and brands, and in some instances, a selection of their brands that correspond to major products or services.

Not all new gTLDs operated by strategic companies will fall under the “dot brand” categorization, though. Certain clients have chosen to pursue “dot generic” strings as new gTLDs, mostly terms that correspond to their industry or a product category that they represent.

As we mentioned in a previous post, ICANN has not specifically recognized these .BRAND strings in the Applicant Guidebook, making no distinction between “dot brand” and “dot anything else” (except for community-based applications). But from our experience so far, it appears that once all the applications are in and posted on or around May 1, 2012, we will see that a significant portion are for “dot brand” strings.

Here on gTLD Strategy, we spend a lot of our time talking about English-language gTLDs, mostly because that’s the language we speak best. The FairWinds staff dabbles in Spanish, Korean, French, Arabic, Chinese, and even Polish, but you could say English is our forte.

But, of course, ICANN’s New gTLD Program is not limited to gTLDs in English, or even in Latin script characters (or ASCII). Organizations will also be able to submit applications for Internationalized Domain Names, or IDNs, in non-Latin scripts like Cyrillic, Japanese, Arabic, Hindi, and others. Some have touted this as one of the greatest innovations of the New gTLD Program: now, instead of having to switch scripts between the second level and the top level when typing out domain names, international Internet users will be able to type entire domain names in their native scripts. (more...)

The new gTLD application deadline is approaching fast, with just about six weeks left to submit. From our work at FairWinds, we know that many companies are working to finalize their applications, and some are even just getting started now. But everyone, regardless of when they got started, is hurtling toward the April 12 finish line. (more...)

We have insurance to cover multiple aspects of our personal lives, as well as our business endeavors. One of the questions we’ve been hearing lately from new gTLD applicants is whether or not they will need insurance for their new gTLDs. It turns out, the answer – like the answers to so many other questions about new gTLDs – depends on how they plan to run their registry. (more...)

As a gTLD Strategy reader, you know what’s up when it comes to “defensive” new gTLD applications. You know they have nothing to do with protecting your trademarks or brands against cybersquatters – there are plenty of trademark protections and objection procedures laid out in the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook that will prevent opportunists from cybersquatting at the top level, not to mention the fact that the complexity and cost of the application both act as more or less insurmountable obstacles for squatters. (more...)

The ICANN Board has reaffirmed its commitment to opening a second round of applications for the New gTLD Program as "expeditiously as possible," a move that surprised approximately no one. The Board still doesn't "get" that for brand owners, the major unknown about the second application round is not the if, but the when. (more...)

The process of thinking through, applying for, acquiring, and launching a new gTLD, in a lot of ways, is not so different from a roller coaster. In this case, we’re not referring to the fear or excitement it can induce, or its potential ability to make you want to puke. Instead, we’re talking about speed. (more...)

Because our business is working with brand owners, we launched this blog to address some of the issues that brand owners face and concerns they have when it comes to new gTLDs. As a result, we devote a good deal of time to discussing .BRAND gTLDs. By .BRAND, we mean the domain name extensions that companies apply for to correspond with their brand names, whether it be their core business name, like .TOYOTA for Toyota, or a branded product or service name, like .CAMRY. (more...)

When people talk about how new gTLDs will bring about a world of “.ANYTHING,” it can be easy to overlook the fact that there are certain restrictions on what strings will be allowed to become gTLDs. For example, numbers are not permitted in a new gTLD. Neither are country names. And new gTLDs must be at least three characters long, lest they be confused with existing country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs). General Motors, for example, cannot apply for .GM, as it is already the ccTLD for The Gambia. (more...)