Tuesday, January 31, 2012

New gTLDs "Public Comments"

With many new gTLD projects in competition and A LOT of money involved into each of them, it will be interesting to see if the ICANN new gTLD program allows true applicants with a good project to compete with extremely well funded applicants submitting multiple applications for maximum profit.

  • My true feeling is "no", not a chance;
  • My true feeling is that it is going to be a matter of having deep pockets with a lot of money;
  • My true feeling is "I hope I am wrong" because some projects out there are very good.

I would even be tempted to write that for those who watch Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), the "Public Comments" are going to be a real UFC arena.


...but I hope I am wrong....

Monday, January 30, 2012

.FASHION Top-Level Domain ?

Found in the LinkedIn group for new generic Top-Level Domain, "The DotFashion (.FASHION) generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) Name is the TLD Internet/Web Address Extension for official fashion-related websites and entities, such as designers, fashionistas and models".

More info here http://dotfashion.info (no information here but just domain names to register).

.Fashion group on Facebook is "liked" by more than 10260 people.

Post in a blog: http://www.yamaiaonline.com/blog/chris-chaplow/dot-fashion-why-not

Friday, January 27, 2012

.SRB Top-Level Domain

Prior to reading this, note the .SRB is not a new generic Top-Level Domains. It is a country code Top-Level Domain (or ccTLD). It also is an IDN (Internationalized Domain Name).

I am adding it to this blog because it is a 3 characters Top-Level Domain and may interest a company or a brand interested in launching its own .SRB Top-Level Domain.

A list is avaialble here

.SRB domain registration begins TODAY.

More here.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

115 new gTLD projects revealed

Found on DomainNameWire.com, a list of 115 new Top-Level Domain trademarks and their current status were revealed today:
  • Mark;
  • Name of the applicant;
  • Type and;
  • Status.
The list is available here.

.LEI Top-Level Domain

Found on the Financial TLDs web site, the .LEI Top-Level Domain is a highly technical concept which means "Legal Identifiers".

It is explained here

It is possible .LEI could be changed to .LEGID, also possibly because the word "lei" in Portuguese means "Law" in English and there is a .law new gTLD project.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

New gTLDs: what's next?

As found on the ICANN web site:
  1. 29 March: registration closes;
  2. 12 April: application window closes;
  3. 1 May: "reveal day";
  4. 12 June: initial evaluation begins;
  5. 12 November: results of initial evaluation;
  6. 29 November: last day to request extended evaluation;
  7. 30 November: later phases for complex applications.
Details are here.

New gTLDs are on LinkedIn

A new URL provides faster access to the new generic Top-Level Domains group on LinkedIn:

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/New-generic-TopLevel-Domains-1840166

(550 members and increasing)

Thursday, January 19, 2012

.VOLGA Top-Level Domain

Recently spotted, the .VOLGA Top-Level Domain targets the geographic areas of the great Russian river Volga.

More information here: http://en.faitid.org/projects/volga

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

.SOPA Top-Level Domain (...)

I strongly recommend the reading of the SOPA's definition on Wikipedia as it is the subject of the moment. I don't like to provide any advice on this (even if reading again my text below I think I provide one :-). I just think bad web sites should be turned off faster.

I think something should be done to clean the web: piracy, copyright infringement and bla, bla, bla and bla, bla, bla. I think there should be a barer, but a good one.

Sopa is a brand for vegetables in France

Who could tell a web site is facilitating copyright infringement? SOPA is something recent and invented by my American friends who did a lot for the domain name industry and as a person involved in new gTLD projects I thank them for this.

But does it mean that one country should be the one to decide what a bad web site is? Should one country be allowed to tell a registry: "hey, Mister registry, be kind enough to take this domain name down so we don't see this web site anymore". I seriously cannot imagine the U.S Department of Justice telling the AFNIC to take a domain name down. But maybe I am wrong.

Yes...you read my example, it is related to domain names because I fear this is what comes next with SOPA and as a person involved in domain names I wouldn't want someone to take my web site down because the U.S Department of Justice would be the only one to have suggested so. I think this decision belongs to a larger audience, not a single country.


So: yes, something needs to be done but it should be done by all parties inolved and parties involved here are the entire web: many countries in many languages. Can ICANN help with this? Probably...in english :-)


Whatever happens, there are many examples of web sites taken down one day which are live again the next day in another domain name extension. Basically, it means SOPA would be a solution to track a web site and take it down at the registry level in...all extensions? Come on... Does anyone know what it means? It is just not feasible.


Trying to fight against copyright infringement is a very important cause but reading SOPA's full title: "To promote prosperity, creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation by combating the theft of U.S. property, and for other purposes", I don't feel concerned.

At the moment, I think the attention should be focused on "wrong" web sites such as joyangeles dot com for example. I do not think these web site bring anything positive to our world. Such web sites show how far the web can go and how weak it can be sometimes. It also shows there is no limit, no barer. I think there should be a barer. Common sense I guess.


So: no to SOPA but YES to Sopa

Definition of the "Stop Online Piracy Act" in French

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Final applicant guidebook (V9) is finally OUT.

Available in English only, final version of the applicant guidebook is out today and available here:
http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/agb

The changes between previous version (8) and version 9:

  1. GAC early warning  (1.1.2.4);
  2. Initial evaluation (1.1.2.5);
  3. Receipt of GAC advice on new gTLDs (1.1.2.7);
  4. Subsequent application rounds (1.1.6);
  5. Eligibility (1.2.1);
  6. Required documents (1.2.2);
  7. Resources for applicant (1.2.10);
  8. IDN tables (1.3.2);
  9. Submitting an application (1.4);
  10. gTLD evaluation fee (1.5.1);
  11. Refunds (1.5.1);
  12. String requirements for IDNs (2.2.1.3.2);
  13. Review procedure for geographic names (2.2.1.4.4);
  14. Customary services (2.2.3.2);
  15. Geographic names extended evaluation (2.3.1);
  16. Registry services extended evaluation (2.3.3);
  17. Panel selection process (2.4.2);
  18. Annex to module 2: separable country names list;
  19. Attachment to module 2: evaluation questions and criteria. Many modifications here;
  20. GAC advice on new gTLDs (3.1);
  21. Dispute resolution service providers (3.2.3);
  22. Filling procedures (3.3);
  23. Dispute resolution costs (3.4.7);
  24. Contention resolution and contract resolution (4.4);
  25. Attachment to module 5: gTLD registry agreement.  Many modifications here;
  26. Terms and conditions (5-6-8-14).
Interested in going fast: here is the direct link to the Summary of Changes to the Applicant Guidebook

Apply NOW for your Top-Level Domain(s)

TAS is the name of the Top-Level Domain Application System User Registration. To apply for your domain name extension, you will need to submit your entire application through this tool and pay the fees.


Not ready?

Well...you still have 3 months to prepare and find:
  • "Money" and a good bank account;
  • A back end registry provider for your technical operations;
  • Lawyer(s);
  • A service provider unless you operate your entire TLD yourself;
  • A service provider for your communication: PR and marketing (unless you want to do it yourself);
  • A DNS service provider unless you have your own network but I doubt it;
  • "Sellers" or Registrars unless you do not plan to sell domain names;
  • An external validation agent;
  • An escrow provider because ICANN wants to;
  • Someone able to manage auctions if part of your plans are to auction domain names.
Good luck.

nb: TAS opened today.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Final Applicant Guidebook

Final version (V9) of the ICANN applicant guidebook is scheduled for release on January 12 according to Rod Beckstrom (and as said on FORA.tv today), CEO and President of ICANN.

New applicant for .SPORT

SportAccord, the umbrella organisation for 105 international sports federations and organisations, announced yesterday is intention to apply for .SPORT in a partnership with CORE, a not-for-profit membership association of Internet domain name registrars and registries.

The communiqué can be read here

SportAccord: http://www.sportaccord.com

Registries.tel, the list of new gTLD projects, has been up-dated.

Monday, January 9, 2012

.wine in the Wall Street Journal

"The Race to Nab Web Addresses", an article from SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN in the Wall Street Journal  mentions .wine domain name.

Just to add something to what I written regarding the .wine registry application, I strongly believe there are two competitors at least.

Article can be read here

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Change review process of the applicant guidebook...

...now available in French.

YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The French version of the applicant guidebook is available !!!

VIVE LA FRANCE !

;-)

Friday, January 6, 2012

.ISTANBUL Top-Level Domain

Found on LinkedIn, this new networking group seems to be looking forward to apply for .instanbul under the ICANN newTLD program:

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Project dotVinum for .wine domain names

I receive more and more calls and emails regarding the .wine new generic Top-Level Domain and project dotVinum's web site for .wine, .vino and .vin domain names. Again yesterday a journalist from The Wall Street Journal interviewed me about .wine and...there are many questions I did not answer (Sorry S.).

Project dotVinum is a web site which explains what these new domain names are, what the objectives are when it comes to launching a wine registry, what the targets are, the budget and a calendar.

The application is to be submitted soon and many people are involved in this project:
  • Myself;
  • A back-end registry provider;
  • Lawyers;
  • and many other profesionnals.
I am aware I do not answer all questions. I do not answer because part of this information is highly confidential as you can expect.

Little after the application is made public by ICANN, a new web site will be launched and Project dotVinum's web site will point to it and continue to develop to provide information.

Project dotVinum: www.dotvinum.org

Final Applicant Guidebook (V9)

Version 9 of the ICANN applicant guidebook is scheduled for release on January 11 according to this ICANN document

You will find it here: http://newgtlds.icann.org/applicants/agb

Previous versions can be found here (surprisingly, the version dated 19 September 2011 is not listed as number 8 but the one dated dated May the 30th is listed as version 7).

An explanation with changes from V8 to V9 is coming.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

gTLD 申请人指导手册 2011 年 9 月 19 日

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Reminder regarding .TREE Top-Level Domain

A long ago, I think it was in the beginning of 2009, I published a new gTLD concept...to plant trees.

This "project" has been printed in many brochures such as this one from Banner & Witcoff I found this morning (and which I recommend the reading).

I would like to remember this is a concept and I have no plan to apply for a .TREE new generic Top-Level Domain in 2012.

The funny thing is that:
  • I received a lot of questions regarding this concept;
  • A person named "erik ludwick" registered most of the generic domain names such as dottree.org;
  • I was offered:
    • Back-end registry solutions;
    • Consulting;
    • An offer to develop the project.
If you look for a list of possible projects, I recommend checking Registries.tel. This site is the one to list all known existing projects.

NB: did I forget a happy.new.year ?

.BRAND new gTLD Reports are updated once a month: CLICK HERE !