"Howls of criticism about Google, Amazon and others’ plans to grab huge swathes of new gTLD real estate and keep it to themselves seem to have spurred ICANN into action. A public comment period opened this week seeks community feedback (indirectly) on applications such as Amazon’s .music, L’Oreal’s .beauty and Google’s .blog, among many others. These gTLDs have all been proposed with “single-registrant” business models, in which the registry controls all second-level domains and regular registrars cannot sell them to anyone else. It’s the “dot-brand” model, but applied to generic dictionary words for which the applicants have no trademark rights. Scores of such applications have been made, notably by Google and Amazon, but they have drawn criticism from many in the ICANN community, such as a small group of registrars and others led by Blacknight Solutions. Members of the Governmental Advisory Committee, most vocally Australia, have also expressed serious concerns about the model, saying it could be anti-competitive. ICANN’s board of directors is currently mulling over these complaints, and has thrown the issue open to public comment to aid in its deliberations. . . ."
Global domain name disputes rise 4.3 per cent: report - Melbourne IT Digital Brand Services, WIPO, World Intellectual Property Organization, domain names - CIO: " . . . The report, which uses data from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), said there were a record 2884 uniform domain name resolution policy (UDRP) disputes in 2012, covering 5082 domain names. Not surprisingly, .com was the domain most recovered from cyber squatters – who register and typically profit from a domain owned by someone else – with more than 3475 domain names, almost triple the number of disputes in all other generic top level domains (gTLDS) combined, the report said. Only 16 disputes related to the .xxx domain were filed with WIPO during this domain’s first full year of operation. “The domain industry and global brands have been looking for evidence to shed light on the predictions that the arrival of potential new gTLDs such as .web, .home, and .sucks will drive cyber squatting to new highs, and the first year of .xxx has been closely watched as an indicator,” said Martin Burke, executive VP at Melbourne IT DBS. “Some will be quick to point out that 16 cases show the fears are just hype but that ignores the fact that around 80,000 trademarks were registered in .xxx to protect brands before the gTLD even went live. “What is more compelling is that .com accounts for 68 per cent of WIPO domain disputes and in our view, that percentage is likely to remain high once the new gTLDs arrive, meaning the biggest problem for brands is actually one they are already having to deal with,” he said. . . . "
It’s a BRAND New World: Update on ICANN’s Expanded gTLD Program | Reed Smith - JDSupra: " . . . . In addition, various applicants for gTLDs have individually committed to offer enhanced protections in the event that they are awarded the top level domain(s) for which they have applied. You will need to monitor this process with respect to the gTLDs that are of most interest to your brand(s), so that once gTLDs are awarded, you will be ready to avail yourself of any additional protections offered, over and above the minimum required by ICANN. . . . "
more news links below
Follow @expvccom
