New gTLD Applicant Guidebook

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.

Given everything we know about ICANN, we believe it is unlikely that the organization will consider extending the application period just because businesses want it to. Think about it – scores of businesses wanted to delay or cancel the New gTLD Program altogether, but ICANN refused to budge, saying that the community had had ample time to contribute to the process, and that the Program was ready.

Out of curiosity, we floated the idea by a senior member of the ICANN staff, asking if there was any possible scenario under which ICANN would extend the application period. He was hesitant to rule it out entirely (“Anything’s possible,” he conceded), but he did say that, like all policy proposals, the idea to extend would have to come up “through the ICANN community.” Of course, that community is not solely comprised of businesses and major brand owners, but also of many parties with a strong vested interest in seeing the New gTLD Program move forward in a timely manner so they can begin using new gTLDs.

So there’s one side of the argument. The other side points to the fact that ICANN was still making last-minute edits to various components of the new gTLD policy until the week the application period opened: it published a new version of the Applicant Guidebook late on January 11. And then, this past Friday, the TLD Application System (TAS) suffered a pretty serious glitch that prevented applicants from properly inputting data to complete their applicant profiles (completing the applicant profile is basically step one in the application submission process). ICANN assured FairWinds in an email that the issue would be resolved during its weekly maintenance period, but since those take place on Sunday mornings from midnight to 2:00 am UTC (or 7:00 to 9:00 pm Saturday EST), the TAS was out of commission for us for nearly a full two days. If these and other hiccups continue, they could serve to unite the voices within the community in calling for an extension.

ICANN has a lot riding on the success of the New gTLD Program. For that reason, we are inclined to believe that it will do everything it can to keep the application period on schedule, including by closing it on April 12, 2012, as planned. Then again, if the ICANN community raises enough of an uproar, and ICANN realizes that the success or failure of the Program will be dependent on extending the application period, then it will basically have no choice but to push back the deadline.

Don’t get us wrong – we know some of our clients wouldn’t hate the idea of having a few extra months of breathing room. But at this point, nearly a quarter of the way through the application period, it looks like there is a low likelihood of ICANN extending the application period. More importantly, businesses have nothing to lose by erring on the side of caution and making sure their applications are prepared by the April 12 deadline, even if ICANN does choose to extend.

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...)

Today is Wednesday, January 4, 2012: T-minus 8 days until the new gTLD application period opens next Thursday. While applicants will have a full three months to submit their applications, some are working diligently this week to ensure that their applications are fully prepared to submit on January 12.

So you can understand our surprise when we found out yesterday that ICANN plans to release a new version of the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook. (more...)

This week here on the gTLD Strategy blog, we’re going to be talking finance. Specifically, we’ll be breaking down the costs of applying for and operating a new gTLD, the application questions that deal with finances, and a little thing called the Continued Operations Instrument. Today, we’re going to get started with the cost breakdown.

At this point, it’s common knowledge that it costs a cool $185,000 to apply for a new gTLD. But what exactly does that sum cover? Essentially, it amounts to a “pay-to-play” filing charge, and it is really just the cover charge applicants will have to pay to get into the new gTLD club. If the application faces complications like String Contention, any kinds of objections or Extended Valuation, that amount will creep up. (more...)

It's time to talk about Question 18. We've alluded to it, hinted at it and even warned about it before here on gTLD Strategy, but now, with just over a month until the application period opens, it's time to roll up our sleeves and dig into Question 18 of the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook.

Question 18, or the "Mission/Purpose" question, is all about how applicants plan to use their new gTLD. Applicants must address the following three sub-questions: (more...)

A few weeks ago, we blogged about ICANN's recent reluctance to own up to its role as an advocate of new gTLDs (according to statements by CEO Rod Beckstrom, the organization is just educating people about the new extensions). But over the past few months, as we here at FairWinds have been studying the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook inside and out, we've noticed a few other instances where ICANN seems to be trying to evade responsibility when it comes to new gTLDs. (more...)