Trademark Clearinghouse: improving the service

Starting today, ongoing notifications will be activated for those additional TLDs and you will start receiving notifications as of 25th of June 2019:

1. .cat
2. .coop
3. .jobs
4. .mobi
5. .museum
6. .net
7. .pro
8. .tel
9. .travel
10. .xxx

Learn more here.

The .CPA new gTLD is here

On 12 June 2019, ICANN and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, entered into a Registry Agreement (PDF download) under which American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, operates the .CPA top-level domain.

"Not official" since the application has not yet changes its status on the ICANN website but the official announcement from CPA seems no fake news.

What the application says

The mission and purpose of the .cpa TLD is explained below:

1. To secure and protect the Applicant’s house brand (“CPA”) as a gTLD;
2. Reflect the AICPA brand at the top level of the DNS’ hierarchy;
3. Provide stakeholders of the Applicant with a recognizable and trusted identifier on the Internet. Stakeholders include, but are not limited to:
1. its subsidiaries, affiliates and sister organizations in various countries;
2. approximately 377,000 members of AICPA’s products and services;
3. advertising and sponsorships partners;
4. prospective and current customers (currently, there are over 1 million CPAs worldwide);
5. accredited or recognized CPAs around the world; and
6. directors and officers of AICPA and its subsidiaries and affiliates.

By the way

Did you know there were 6 applicants for the .CPA new gTLD and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants wanted the TLD so much that it applied twice?

Check the official announcement.

.AMAZON : Special Declaration

During the last meeting of the Andean Presidential Council (Lima-Peru 26 May), ICANN's decision related to Amazon's application to the Top Level Domain .AMAZON was a relevant matter of discussion.

As a result, the Andean Presidents decided to issue a "Special Declaration of the Andean Presidential Council on the use of New Technologies and the TLD .amazon" signed by the Presidents of Peru, Colombia, Bolivia and Ecuador.

The declaration

In our double condition of Andean and Amazonian countries, we express our deep concern about the recent decision of the Board of Directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), adopted on May 17, which facilitates the delegation of the domain ".amazon" to the company Amazon Inc. under exclusivity, despite the opposition of the countries members of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) and against the recommendation of the Governmental Advisory Committee of the ICANN (GAC) to reach a mutually acceptable solution.

With this decision, ICANN would not only be setting a serious precedent by prioritizing private commercial interests over the considerations of public policy of the States, such as the rights of indigenous peoples and the preservation of the Amazon in favor of Humanity and against global warming; but disregards the Montevideo Declaration of 2013, result of the Fourth Ministerial Conference on the Information Society, whereby the Ministers of Latin America and the Caribbean rejected all the pretension of appropriation, without the due consent of the countries of the region, of the Amazon denomination in any language, as well as of any other top level domain referred to historical, cultural or natural geographical names, which must be preserved as part of its heritage and cultural identity.

In this regard, we express the decision to join efforts to protect the interests of our countries related to geographic or cultural names and the right to cultural identity of indigenous peoples, which could be affected by new technologies, such as top level domains of Internet and where Internet governance had not been developed or instrumented adequately spaces for the defense of public interests against those of private interests, as a new scope of action of the Andean Community.

Read the official declaration (PDF download)

Terminated: .DUNS and .ISELECT new gTLDs

Two more new gTLD applications are terminated. The Top-Level Concerned are:

1. The .ISELECT new gTLD
2. The .DUNS

On 14 March 2019, The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation notified ICANN of its intent to terminate the .DUNS Registry Agreement entered into on 06 August 2015. ICANN’s preliminary determination to not transition the TLD to a successor Registry Operator is based on the following rationale:

• .DUNS qualifies as a .Brand TLD;
• Transitioning the TLD is not necessary to protect the public interest.

On .DUNS

In conformance with Section 4.5 of the Registry Agreement (as modified for a .Brand TLD), ICANN may not delegate the TLD to a successor registry operator for a period of two years.

On .ISELECT

The exact same Notice of Registry Operator Request for Termination of Registry Agreement was written by the ICANN as a confirmation of termination (it was dated 03 June 2019).

Lear more here.

Just updated: new gTLD reports for May/June 2019

1. New gTLDs related to POLITICS,
2. New gTLDs related to LUXURY,
3. New gTLDs related to the MUSIC,
4. Multiple Registries : group of Registries,
5. Singular VS Plural versions of a new gTLD,
6. New gTLDs related to CATERING and CULINARY,
7. New gTLDs related to PHOTOGRAPHY,
8. New gTLDs related to CITIES,
9. New gTLDs related to COMPANIES,
10. New gTLDs related to the LAW and LEGAL things,
11. New gTLDs related to FINANCE,
12. New gTLDs related to a COLOR,
13. New gTLDs related to SPORTS,
14. New gTLDs related to ALCOHOL,
15. New gTLDs related to REAL ESTATE,
16. FRENCH new gTLD applications,
17. New gTLDs related to RELIGION,
18. New gTLDs related to CARS,
19. New gTLDs related to HEALTH,
20. New gTLDs related to ADULTS.

Comparing .PAGE and .BEST

The .BEST Registry enters the month of June 2019 with another 1,000 domain names created. I'd suggest to have a look at the progression curve of this TLD compared to the .PAGE new gTLD belonging to Google.

The numbers

1. January 2019: the .BEST had 4,000 domains less than .PAGE;
2. February 2019: the .BEST had about the same but .PAGE had gained +3,500 more;
3. March 2019: the .BEST had almost caught up with .PAGE with 2,000 less domains but .PAGE had almost 14,000 domain names created;
4. April 2019: there's a gap of  less than 3,000 domains between the two registries. 
5. May 2019: the .BEST Registry announces 16,000 domain names created and the gap with .PAGE is reduced to 2,000 domains.
6. June 2019 (end): more .BEST than .PAGE coming ?

.Best hits 16K domains ! Register First your .Best domains in promo from $1.99 : https://t.co/D3gMiitOBJ#best #domains #domain #domainnames #domainname #execution #strategy #tld #icann #investor #investors #seo #digitalstrategy #inta #inta2019 #brand #thebest #brandprotection pic.twitter.com/SjMiD61xuG

— .Best (@BestTLD) May 29, 2019

Why compare .PAGE and .BEST ?
There is a list of domain name extensions that I'd strongly suggest to keep an eye on for any company with a need to secure its assets online. This list is not so long but can represent a danger if a third party, or a competitor, came to use the same extension with the exact same second level domain name.

I compare .PAGE to .BEST since one is just below the other in that list of domain name registration volumes. Also, it is interesting to see that one is maintained by a giant of the Internet (Google) and the other is operated and marketed by a small team of entrepreneurs based in Paris.

New gTLDs: How To Stay Tuned

Following-up with new gTLDs is exciting for companies and entrepreneurs and we offer two free ways to do this:

1. The News section from this Blog is one way;
2. The Newsletter is a second one.

What you'll get
Important ICANN announcements related to new generic Top-Level Domains from the ICANN new gTLD program; reports on registries' domain name registration volumes; links to articles of interest (of the moment), dates on new gTLD conferences and other meetings; alerts about Sunrise Periods and other Trademark Clearinghouse announcements and events; explanation on major players' moves; announcement of new gTLD projects and updates on Round 2 of the ICANN new gTLD program; updates on luxury, music, politics and other domain name registration volumes on which registrants should secure their domain name with?

New gTLDs: a good read

This is a recent article, entitled "Food for thought on the new TLD business

models", written by Loic Damilaville.

I strongly suggest the reading of this publication for new comers to the new gTLD world, entrepreneurs wishing to launch a new domain name extension or, Trademarks starting to wondering about securing - and using - their .BRAND personalized domain name extension:

• Unequal business models;
• Brand TLDs (or .BRAND);
• Sponsored (or Community) TLDs;
• GeoTLDs (geographic Top-Level Domains);
• Pure generics:
• generic domains that can only reach a small customer base;
• "open" generics, with terms used worldwide, which are lucky enough to address a global target or at least one that is very broad. 

• The consequences in terms of marketing strategies;
• Exclusive TLDs versus mass TLDs;
• Bad pricing never pays;
• Rights holders and domainers, two false friends;
• Convincing investors;
• "Success" or failure is not related to volume but to the relevance of the strategy with respect to market conditions.

Read the publication on the AFNIC website.