ICANN

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.

The ICANN Board insists that it cannot say specifically when the next round will occur until all first round applications have been processed and the Government Advisory Committee's assessment of trademark protections and root zone operation from the first round has been reviewed. But through conversations that FairWinds has had with the top brass at ICANN, we have learned that this is likely to be five to seven years down the road—an eternity in Internet marketing years. For most major brands, this means that the choice is between applying now or losing a competitive edge over their peers. Unless ICANN is ready to commit to a hard-and-fast date for the second application round, it shouldn't be surprised by large numbers of defensively filed first round applications.

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...)

We’ve been hearing some interesting rumors lately. Certain businesses that we have talked to recently are convinced that ICANN will extend the new gTLD application period beyond the allotted three-month window, running from January 12 to April 12 of this year. Their argument is, if enough applicants complain that three months is not enough time to properly prepare the complex new gTLD application, ICANN will have no choice but to push back the deadline. (more...)

Sometimes it seems like we spend a lot of time ragging on ICANN here on gTLD Strategy. It’s not that we have some inherent beef with the organization. But sometimes, like that kid in grade school who always corrected your grammar (“Actually, it’s ‘you and I ,’ not ‘you and me’”), ICANN does things that make it hard to love. Really hard. (more...)

It’s no secret that ICANN can be a tricky organization to deal with. The technical terminology and acronyms alone are enough to trip anyone up. But what about the constantly changing list of dates and deadlines?

First, there was the hard cutoff for the new gTLD application period. Anyone who wishes to apply for a new gTLD must submit a complete application, along with the complete application fee, by 11:59 pm UTC on April 12, 2012. We have known about this deadline for quite some time now. (more...)

The day has finally arrived. The new gTLD application period is officially open, and as a special treat to mark the occasion, ICANN has dropped a new version of the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook. This marks the eighth iteration of the Guidebook and, as with earlier updated versions, ICANN has also published a document that summarizes the changes, alongside documentation to justify its reasons for making those changes. The PDF version is available here. In this post, we’ll discuss the changes that will have the most impact on businesses planning to apply for gTLDs. (more...)

Last Wednesday we posted that we had received indication from ICANN’s new gTLD Customer Support Center that there would be a new Applicant Guidebook coming out. Unfortunately, at that time, we could not say when that new Guidebook would be published. Now, after some digging around ICANN’s website, we at least know when the new version should be ready: Wednesday, January 11. (more...)

Earlier this week, National Telecommunications and Information Administration Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information Lawrence Strickling sent a letter to ICANN Chairman Steve Crocker urging ICANN to consider implementing certain measures in regards to the New gTLD Program. Those suggestions are as follows: (more...)