ICANN’s debating what’s in a domain name - Michelle Quinn - POLITICO.com: "Should a company be allowed to run a generic term such as tire, insurance or book as a domain and wall off its use from competitors?That’s the question the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is wrestling with as it prepares to begin awarding firms new top-level domains — the words to the right of the dot. The nonprofit firm has been evaluating about 1,900 applications for new domains, many of them common dictionary terms. There had been agreement that companies like Apple could win generic words such as apple because of its brand. But companies such as Amazon, Google, Goodyear, L’Oreal and others also applied for a wide array of words and indicated that they would like to operate the registry as “closed” — meaning they may not allow other firms to buy what are known as second-level domains. Clearly, companies want to own and control generic words as domains so that they can offer their services. But with that comes the possibility of blocking competitors who want to attach their brand to a term. For example, Ford might want to buy ford.truck but be blocked from doing so by the owner of .truck. . . . " Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/icanns-debating-whats-in-a-domain-name-87816.html#ixzz2LV2fOVPD
Protecting Your “.trademark”: ICANN Clarifies Procedure for Objecting to New gTLDs | BakerHostetler - JDSupra: "It has been almost two years since the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced that it would accept applications for the registration of new generic top level domain names (gTLDs), increasing the number of domain name endings beyond .com, .net, and .gov. ICANN currently is conducting its initial evaluation of the approximately 1,917 applications it received and is expected to release the results at the end of March. In the meantime, ICANN has published the applied-for gTLDs here. Parties may object to any of the applied-for gTLDs on four bases: string confusion, legal rights, community, and limited public interest. Three different dispute resolution services—ICDR, WIPO, and the ICC—have been appointed to accept and adjudicate the objections. A very broad overview of the objections can be found hereand ICANN’s Applicant Guidebook, which includes a section on objections can be found here. . ."
A simple question every .brand applicant should ask their consultant today - Domain Name Wire: "They aren’t quite dropping like flies, but .brand top level domain applicants are starting to pull out. GM is withdrawing all of its bids. Hasbro is gone. Eli Lilly pulled one of its drug names. Suddenly, I suspect a lot of brand owners will rethink their decision to apply for a new top level domain — especially those beyond their core brand. Although GM gave a general reason for withdrawing its applications, there’s a rather simple question every .brand applicant should ask the consultant that talked them into applying for a domain in the first place: “What’s one thing I’ll be able to do with this TLD that I can’t do with my existing .com domain?”. . .. "
ICANN letting registrar negotiations hold new TLDs hostage
Domain Name Wire
. . . . ICANN's latest proposed registry agreement for new TLD operators. The agreement mandates that new TLD operators use only domain registrars that have signed the new Registrar Accreditation Agreement with ICANN. . . .
Cargill registers Truvia lawsuit domain names
Domain Name Wire
Cargill gets defensive with domain name registrations. Cargill Food giant Cargill registered dozens of domain names on Friday, many of which could be used to protect the company against a backlash over its Truvia sweetener and other company products.
Google: Don't Let Bad Sites On Your Domain Name
Search Engine Roundtable
This may be obvious to many of you but hosting bad sites on your own domain name is not a good idea. I.e. if I allowed someone to put a site on . . .
Search Engine Roundtable
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