Friday, June 29, 2012

2 good ideas to fasten the new gTLD process

I read Twitts and many blogs, a lot of press, forums, and all source of information I can find related to new gTLDs and I found the 2 following ideas quite good to stop wasting more time entering the ICANN validation process:

  • In a Twitt, Rob Hall (from Momentous, Pool.com) wrote: " ICANN‬ should start putting new ‪gTLDs‬ in the root today. Put in 2 per day. Start testing stability. The rest is just about who owns it". Good idea but it would require the back-end registry provider to be selected;
  • Michael Berkens, President of Worldwide Media, Inc. wrote an article in CircleID entitled: "What if new gTLD applicants held private auctions where losing applicants, not ICANN gets the money?" This article introduces a very good idea: a benefit to private auctions over ICANN auctions is that: "parties can hold private auctions at anytime, rather than waiting for whenever ICANN is ready to hold them, thereby giving clarity on many strings which are in contention to all applicants".
I recommend reading this article on CircleId.

Prague Public Forum

The ICANN Public Forum is a conference where Stakeholders can listen to up-dates and express themselves regarding issues. It defines itself as: "The public forum is the Community's opportunity to make comments and ask questions on the main topics at each meeting directly to the Board and in front of the rest of the community". It is possible to follow the Public Forum watching a live video.

It usually happens at the end of all ICANN meetings. Yesterday was Prague's Public Forum meeting and new gTLDs were discussed in the end of it.

I will remember a few things from this forum:
  • The ICANN wants more stakeholders to participate.
    I am myself a member of one of these groups but I admit it, vocabulary used is the ICANN one (a difficult one to understand) and it is not in my native language so I do not participate so much. The basis of these exchanges is done through emails and sometimes through conference calls. You can also meet the groups but you must travel to do so (and pay your plane ticket).
  • Far too complex for the Internet Community to follow and understand.
    Internet users, in the case if new generic Top-Level Domains, are not the Registries who will launch soon to sell domain names but :
    • Brands who will use their domain name extension for themselves and;
    • "Registrants": those who are going to buy domain names to Registries through the network of Accredited Registrars. It is these people - brands and individuals - who are concerned and unfortunately, they are not the one to talk.
      It is these people who represent, probably 99% of the stakeholders who will buy these new domain names.
      It is these people whom are concerned by new gTLDs because they are the one who are going to face what comes next...
  • This 14 years old Asian kid who came to talk to the micro to expressed himself about the .KIDS new gTLD: on of the rare person concerned by the launching of new gTLDs.
  • Most of the people who expressed themselves have a financial interest in the launching of new gTLDs.
  • I wish I was not involved in these new gTLDs because I would have asked the right questions: those no one would dare asking.
  • I was happy to be able to follow the conference from my office here in Paris.
More details about the Public Forum can be found here: http://prague44.icann.org/node/31829

I shall soon (probably) submit comments here or provide feed-backs.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Update on the Trademark Clearinghouse - Part2

This post follows my previous post.

The PDF presentation to be downloaded down the page explains:

  • The Trademark Clearinhouse (definition);
  • Key design principles;
  • Project schedule;
  • Project status: accomplishments;
  • "Going forward";
  • Process and Function Overview:
    • Verification process;
    • Correction process;
    • Registry support;
    • User Support;
    • Sunrise Services;
    • Trademark Claims;
    • Third Party Dispute;
    • Testing Process.
  • "Next steps".
Download PDF presentation down this page.

Update on new gTLD Objection & Dispute Resolution

These 4 presentations are a must-read for anyone who wants to object or face an objection(s).

The new gTLD Objection and Dispute Resolution window opened on 13 June 2012 and is scheduled to run for approximately seven months. There are 4 grounds for objection: String Confusion, Legal Rights, Limited Public Interest and Community.

  • Who will administer objections?
  • Did you know an applicant facing an Limited Public Interest or Community objection must pay to answer it ?
  • Did you know the objection prevails if the objection is not answer in time?
  • Did you know the procedure can be done in English only?
  • Did you know the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) appoints the experts whose hourly rate are € 450 (ICC Administrative Expenses normally: 1 Member Expert Panel: € 12 000)?
  • Did you know a failure to timely reply  a string confusion objection is a default?
  • Did you know...these objection mechanisms are a perfect scheme to... :-)
Find these answers in the 4 presentations to be downloaded down this page.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

ICANN new gTLD Program Update

The PDF presentation of yesterday's agenda is available and updates on questions below:
  1. Application process:
    1. Application statistics;
    2. Customer service;
    3. TAS interruption.
  2. Evaluation process:
    1. Timeline;
    2. Partners;
    3. Applicant support.
  3. Batching:
    1. Other implementation work;
    2. 2nd round planning;
    3. Rights protection mechanisms.
Download ICANN presentation here.

Monday, June 25, 2012

The .YACHTS Top-Level Domain

What is the purpose/mission of this proposed, .YACHTS generic Top-Level Domain?

DERYachts, LLC (hereafter “DERYachts”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Dominion Enterprises (“Dominion”), has filed this application for a .YACHTS gTLD with the intention of bringing to market a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive namespace for consumers that will contain listings of boats for sale, as well as a repository of goods and services related to boats.

The business model for the .YACHTS gTLD is currently broken into two stages:
  1. Allocated Strings and Client Strings:
    1. At the current stage of analysis, the business model for .YACHTS is one in which generic strings (“motor yacht,” “sailing yacht,” “super yacht,” etc.) and geographic (city⁄state) domain names would initially be reserved and⁄or allocated to one or more Dominion online marine properties.
    2. Following initial allocation, Dominion’s existing clients across the different marine property groups would be initially permitted to register domain names.
  2. Registration by Non-Clients: DERYachts is currently evaluating a validation process to allow non-Dominion clients to register domain names in the .YACHTS gTLD.
Operating rules

DERYachts currently envisions initially offering domain name registration services mainly to Dominion marine property groups and their existing clients.
In these cases, having an existing contractual relationship with Dominion would be a condition for the ability to register a .YACHTS domain name.


Read the complete application details here.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Planning for the next gTLD round (Up-date)

The ICANN Board reaffirmed ICANN’s commitment to opening a second round of applications in the New gTLD Program as expeditiously as possible.

Date of the next ICANN conference on this question is : Mon, 25 June 2012 - 17:30 - 18:30

For those interested in watching, remote participation (with high bandwidth) will be possible in the virtual meeting room.

It is not possible yet to state a specific date for the second round because of the work ICANN has committed to related to the first round. First, the applications from the first round must be processed. In addition, ICANN previously committed to addressing the recommendations of the Governmental Advisory Committee requirements for assessment of trademark protections and root zone operation as a result of the first round. 

This session will ask participants to discuss ways to satisfy the prerequisites for launching the next round: particularly those concerning trademark protections and root zone stability. This will inform planning.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

The .MAYONNAISE Top-Level Domain

Oups...sorry, I meant "KETCHUP".


What is the purpose/mission of this proposed, .KETCHUP generic Top-Level Domain? 

ProMark Brands Inc, a subsidiary of H.J. Heinz Company, has filed this application for a .KETCHUP gTLD with the intention of bringing to market a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive namespace for consumers to access content related to Heinz Tomato Ketchup worldwide.
  • ProMark intends to initially limit registration and use of domain names within the .KETCHUP gTLD to Heinz and its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates;
  • After year 3, ProMark will evaluate whether opportunities exist to carry out the business strategy for the .KETCHUP gTLD through expansion that continues the sustainable operations of the registry through fee-based registrations to parties other than Heinz and its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates.
  • Four stage rollout for the .KETCHUP gTLD:
    • Heinz will register a limited number of .KETCHUP second-level domain names;
    • ProMark will begin allocating domain names in the .KETCHUP gTLD for more widespread internal corporate use and it will evaluate expanding the operations of the gTLD to permit registration by other registrants, such as licensees and strategic partners;
    • ProMark may begin to implement the permanent migration of Internet traffic away from the gTLDs in which Heinz’s domain names are currently registered, and toward the .KETCHUP gTLD;
    • ProMark will assess whether its business plan and expansion strategy should be augmented by extending registration rights to a broader class of licensees, potentially including customers of Heinz.
Operating rules

ProMark’s proposed operating rules to limit registration to Heinz and its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates



Read the complete application details here.

LinkedIn new gTLD group reaches 800 members

I am happy to welcome Mafalda F. Occupational Safety Specialist at Monten Studio in Avon, Mississippi, a Venture Capital & Private Equity.

Mafalda F. is member 800 to join the new generic Top-Level Domains group on LinkedIn.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Update on the Trademark ClearingHouse

I have more and more questions regarding the Trademark Clearinghouse so here is an update.
  • Reading the project Timeline, I understand the Trademark Clearinhouse will be launched in October 2012;
  • Rightsholders should be charged around USD 150 to subscribe and there will be an annual renewal fee;
  • Registries will pay too: a set-up fee of USD 7,000 to 10,000 will be due per TLD registry. The set-up fee should cover Sunrise and Trademark Claims processes, as well as assistance in integration and testing;
  • ICANN has set up an official web page I suggest all interested parties should visit it. As it says, this page tracks the progress of implementation work done on the Trademark Clearinghouse.
The next date is Wednesday the 27 of June 2012

In June the 27
th, there will be a session in Prague which will provide an update on the continuing work toward implementation of the Clearinghouse.


The session will include a review of processes that are being built, such as:
  1. Submission of rights information to the Clearinghouse;
  2. Sunrise registration and notification processes;
  3. Trademark Claims notification processes.
There will be a virtual meeting room to watch session leader Kurt Pritz (Senior Vice President, Stakeholder Relations) update interested parties. Note it is planned that this session will include the participation of one or more providers of Clearinghouse services.

To attend, click here.

New gTLDs ICANN feed back

It is possible to comment applications on the ICANN web site but it is also possible to provide a simple feed-back regarding something you've liked - or not.

You can sumbit your feed-back on the "New gTLD Program Feedback" page.

At the moment I write this, there are 4 comments (which are not very optimistic by the way) but hey give anyone the opportunity to give an advice. I would say this is fair-play, thank you ICANN.

Note, ICANN reserves the right to remove feedback that does not adhere to "ICANN Expected Standards of Behavior" and "ICANN's Open Comment Forum Process and Standards".

You can feed-back on the new gTLD program feedback.

Top-Level Domains Infographics

"Infographics" allow to have a fast and, most of the time, good visual snapshot of a situation. A few new gTLD players (journalists, service providers, bloggers...) have given us their best shot:

The .MENU Top-Level Domain

What is the purpose/mission of the proposed, .MENU generic Top-Level Domain?

The .menu gTLD will benefit proposed registrants, internet users and others by offering an internet space exclusively dedicated to restaurant menus of all kinds, and their affiliated constituents:
  • The Registry will focus on restaurant menus, supporting and building directories around each category of dining by geography;
  • Dedication to this subject will allow the Registry to become the chosen destination for all seeking restaurant and menu information;
  • The proposed gTLD will promote competition by creating a digital environment dedicated to all social, informational and commercial aspects of restaurants and their menus;
  • The Registry will establish category and geography-specific community directory websites;
  • The proposed gTLD will catalyze innovation by creating an online community devoted to the menus of the global restaurant industry;
  • .menu will allow for the following innovations:
    • Search: optimized and customized;
    • Community-specific premium domains that will be utilized for the benefit of all interested parties;
    • Targeted and more cost-effective advertising;
    • The ability to create and analyze community metrics;
    • Lay the foundation for a community-specific e-commerce platform.
Operating rules
  1. Method for resolving multiple applications for a particular name
    1. During the Sunrise period, multiple applications for a particular domain, assuming all are properly listed in the Trademark Clearinghouse and⁄or otherwise verified at the Registry’s discretion, will be resolved through an auction.
    2. During the Landrush period, multiple applications for a particular domain name will be resolved through an auction process. 
    3. During the general registration process, multiple applications for a particular domain name will be resolved on a first come first serve basis.
  2. Cost benefits to registrants intended for implementation:
    1. The Registry reserves the right to offer introductory discounts and advantageous pricing to industry leaders or other entities that enhance the community reputation and visibility of the gTLD.
    2. The Registry may coordinate with registrars to offer price discounts to customers purchasing multiple domains or bundled services.
  3. Intended contractual commitments to registrants regarding the magnitude of price escalation:
    1. The Registry will comply with the Registry Agreement and will make contractual commitments to registrants regarding the pricing policy. This includes complying with all pricing requirements detailed in Article 2.10 of ICANN’s New gTLD Registry Agreement.
    2. The Registry may from time to time increase prices in accordance with market rates and other applicable factors throughout the internet community.
Read the complete application details here.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

The .BBB Top-Level Domain

What is the purpose/mission of this proposed, Community-based, .BBB generic Top-Level Domain?

BBB’s mission is to be the leader in advancing marketplace trust. BBB accomplishes this mission by:
  • Creating a community of trustworthy businesses and charities;
  • Setting standards for marketplace trust;
  • Encouraging and supporting best practices; 
  • Celebrating marketplace role models; and
  • Denouncing substandard marketplace behaviour. 
Operating rules

If CBBB (the applicant) receives multiple requests for the same name from qualified community members, CBBB would not use auction as the means of resolving the competing claims. Rather, CBBB will take the following considerations into account:
  • What the current primary domain of the business or charity is registered as;
  • Whether they own the trademark of the proposed domain name;
  • How long a business or charity had been accredited by the BBB or Wise Giving Alliance; and
  • Who requested the domain name first.
Read the complete application details here.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

The .AAA Top-Level Domain

What is the purpose/mission of this proposed .AAA generic Top-Level Domain?

The most important purposes of the .AAA TLD can be summarized as follows:
  1. Securing, protecting and operating the Applicant’s key brand (“AAA”) as a gTLD to the benefit of its stakeholders referred to below;
  2. Reflect the “AAA” brand at the top level of the DNS’ hierarchy, next to the existing gTLDs and ccTLDs;
  3. Provide stakeholders of the Applicant with a recognizable and trusted identifier on the Internet. Such stakeholders include, but are not limited to:
    1. the regional clubs of the Applicant;
    2. the local clubs of the Applicant;
    3. certain organizations associated with the Applicant, e.g. vintage car clubs;
    4. members of the Applicant; and directors and officers of the Applicant and its subsidiaries, including its employees;
    5. business partners and other strategic partners as identified by the Applicant.
  4. Provide such stakeholders with a secure and safe Internet environment, under the control of the Applicant, in which they are able to obtain information, products and services from and communicate with the Applicant and where they are able to obtain genuine information provided by the AAA and its approved stakeholders.
Operating rules

The domain names to be registered by the AAA and, as the case may be, its Affiliates, will likely relate to the following:
  • registered trademarks of the AAA;
  • names of the regional and local clubs of the AAA;
  • names of the individual members of the AAA;
  • names of organizations associated with the Applicant, e.g. vintage car clubs;
  • third parties who perform services or offer products to the benefit of the Applicant’s members;
  • names of departments within the AAA;
  • names of foundations and social initiatives supported by the AAA;
  • names of events (e.g. motorsports events) organized by the AAA;
  • etc.
Read the complete application details here.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

New gTLDs: what is really happening at the moment

Many of us have noticed there will soon be a new CEO at ICANN. Actual CEO Rod Beckstrom will be thanked and everyone will congratulate each other...(in English :-).
OK, done... But what is really going to happen in Prague?


Read my article on CircleID.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Review and comment a new gTLD application

The first thing you should do is...to know what the applicant plans to do with the domain name extension. You will need to proceed in 2 steps.

CHECK THE APPLICATION

To check that, you should go to the "New gTLD Current Application Status" page and  find the string you want to check on the first colon on the left.

  1. We shall use the example of .AFRICA;
  2. Once you've clicked on "AFRICA", it will take you to another page;
  3. You should then click on "(download public portion of application)";
  4. This should open (or download) another HTML page and I suggest you go down to "MISSION/PURPOSE" - point 18 and read:
    1. 18(a) Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD;
    2. 18(b) How proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others;
    3. 18(c) Describe operating rules to eliminate or minimize social costs or financial resource costs, various types of consumer vulnerabilities.
COMMENT THE APPLICATION

Once you've read what the intentions of the applicant are, feel free to comment:
  1. Go to the "New gTLD Application Comments Forum" page;
  2. You can "view comments" without creating an account;
  3. But you will need to "create an account" to comment publicly;
  4. Once this is done, (you will have confirmed that receiving an email);
  5. You will need to come back to this page log-in with your email and passwords and play with menus.

New gTLD program statistics

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) just published a "Program Statistics" page. On this page will be periodically published high level statistics about the new gTLD program as the applications work their way through the evaluation process.

Check the statistics page here.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

New gTLDs on French TV with Jean Guillon ;-)

Veuillez installer Flash Player pour lire la vidéo

Can you imagine you are asked by a journalist to give an example of a new gTLD? I could have spoken about any French new gTLD and I chose the .PLOMBIER! (plumbery in English).
(sorry for the 20s of advertising).

Digital Archery: increase chances to be in batch 1

I watched and listened to Rob Beckstrom today on the "Reveal Day" event. He was asked by a journalist about Digital Archery and did not seem to see a problem with the external service providers offering a solution to increase chances to be in batch one.

Key-Systems offers a solution and charges only for first batch hits. If it increases chances to be in batch one and gives the TLD a realistic chance to start registrations in 2013, it can be an opportunity to start selling domain names earlier.

More on Digital Archery with Key-Systems here.

Complete list of new gTLD applicants

The list of new gTLD applicants is now available to download.

 

View the list of applicants on the ICANN web site or download it here.

Reveal Day | Watch the Event | ICANN

Reveal Day | Watch the Event | ICANN

New gTLDs: first results!

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) received a total of 1930 pplications, after refunds, for new generic top-level domains.
  • 1846 of those are “standard” applications.
  • 84 are designated as “community-based”.
Of the 1930,
  • 66 have designated themselves as geographic name applications.
  • 116 applications are Internationalized Domain Names, or IDNs, using non-Latin scripts.
  • 3 applicants seek support through ICANN’s Applicant Support Program.
Applications were received from 60 countries.

Using ICANN’s definitions of the world’s regions, which can be viewed on our website:
  • 911 applications came from North America.
  • 675 from Europe.
  • 303 applications are from the Asia-Pacific region.
  • 24 are from Latin America and the Caribbean.
  • 17 from Africa.
Some domain names have been applied for by more than one applicant.
There are 230 domain names for which at least two applications were submitted, involving a total of 751 applications.

http://newgtlds.icann.org

Registries.tel will close today

The list of new gTLD applicants will be published today by ICANN in London.

This list, expected for years by the entire new gTLD industry, will be the "official" and only one, therefore I will stop maintaining Registries.tel and redirect this "directory"to the list published by ICANN.


Since 2009, it has been a "hunting game" to list information on this web site and I can tell I often received a daily email from Google Analytics which informed me there had been more than 200 page views. Not a lot...but as you can see on the curve above, I sometimes went above 1200 visits a day.

Any original idea of what I could do with this domain name now is welcome (this also applies for rrdrp.com and pddrp.com).

Time to turn a page ;-)

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

.PHARMACY Top-Level Domain

It is now official (read previous post dated March), the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) applies for the .PHARMACY generic Top-Level Domain to provide a secure destination for consumers.

"By filing this application, NABP and the coalition seek to ensure that the .PHARMACY gTLD is kept out of the hands of a third party that, for commercial reasons, may turn a blind eye toward illegal and/or counterfeit activity within the gTLD".

Press release is here.

Straat to apply for 13 Top-Level Domains

Spotted by Domain Name Wire, STRAAT, an investment company run by entrepreneurs and internet geeks has applied for 13 Top-Level Domains:
  1. .APP (6 applicants);
  2. .BOOK (2 applicants);
  3. .CORP (3 applicants);
  4. .DESIGN (5 applicants);
  5. .GMBH (2 applicants);
  6. .GROUP (2 applicants);
  7. .INC (3 applicants);
  8. .LAW (4 applicants);
  9. .LLC (4 applicants);
  10. .LTD;
  11. .MOVIE (3 applicants);
  12. .TECH (2 applicants);
  13. .WEB (5 applicants).
More information about Straat here.

"Top Level Design" applies for 10 new gTLDs

Top Level Design LLC is a new venture created by founders of AboutUs, SnapNames and ICANNWiki.
The company will be applying for 10 generic Top-Level Domains:
  1. .blog (4 known applicants already);
  2. .design (4 known applicants);
  3. .style (3 known applicants);
  4. .art (3 known applicants);
  5. .ink;
  6. .wiki;
  7. .gay (4 known applicants);
  8. .llc (3 known applicants);
  9. .group;
  10. .photography.
Find the list of other applicants on Registries.tel and read more here.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Les nouvelles extensions Internet « Communautaires »

Le .PHYSIO, annoncé ce jeudi 7 juin 2012, souhaite représenter la communauté de la physiothérapie en proposant des noms de domaine qui se termineront en .physio (par exemple: www.internet.physio).

Un projet intéressant qui caractérise bien les nouvelles extensions Internet de type « Communautaires » à voir le jour à partir de 2013...

Lire la suite sur Le Journal Du Net

A second applicant for .LOL

Revealed today in DomainIncite, a major player explains he's submitted multiple applications. One of them is .LOL and he will be competing with Google to acquire it.

"Uniregistry" will reveal the complete list of Top-Level Domains it is applying for in June the 13th. A team of 30 experts will be supporting this registry.


Friday, June 8, 2012

.CHURCH Top-Level Domain

Domains names to help people all over the world to explore and share their faith online.

A few things to know:
  1. .church domains will be open to all faiths and religious beliefs;
  2. domains will be available at a reasonable cost;
  3. "first come, first served";
  4. no auctions or bulk purchasing.
Web site can be seen here.

.PHYSIO Top-Level Domain

The term "physio" is for physiotherapy or concerns physiotherapists. The .PHYSIO is a Community application which is endorsed by the World Congress of Physical Therapy (sole international voice for physiotherapy) representing more than 350 000 physiotherapists worldwide in 106 organisations.

According to Wikipedia, "Physical therapy (or physiotherapy), often abbreviated PT, is a health care profession primarily concerned with the remediation of impairments and disabilities and the promotion of mobility, functional ability, quality of life and movement potential through examination, evaluation, diagnosis and physical intervention carried out by Physical Therapists (known as Physiotherapists in some countries) and Physical Therapist Assistants (known as Physical Rehabilitation Therapistsin some countries)".

As revealed in this article where the story of this project is covered; " Glenn Ruscoe, part owner of Perth physiotherapy practice Riseley Physiotheraphy, has applied for the .physio domain, which he plans to sell to physiotherapists worldwide."

Check the web site of the project here.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

New gTLD batching process explained

The new gTLD batching process is explained for English readers, other applicants have until June the 28 to learn English and have understood and completed the timestamp process in the online batching system.
:-)

A few important things should be noted:
  • "All applications in a single contention set are placed into the batch where the earliest application in the contention set is placed";
  • Batches could be larger than 500;
  • "ICANN reserves the right to delay an application to the last batch or to reject an application entirely if ICANN reasonably determines that the applicant abused the batching system or intentionally interfered with the performance of the system or any other applicant's use of the system."
  • Key dates:
    • 8 June 2012: Online batching system will launch;
    • 28 June 2012: By 23:59 UTC on this date applicants must have completed the timestamp process in the online batching system;
    • 11 July 2012: ICANN anticipates posting the batching order, including the timestamps for each application.
  • Applicant will need to indicate a preference for being in the earliest batch or any batch: "Applications will be selected for batches based first on whether the applicant opted-in or opted-out";
  • The secondary timestamp score will be assigned by calculating the absolute difference between the target time and the timestamp generated by the applicant : got it? :-)
  • ICANN will post the batching results after all applications have completed the secondary timestamp process and the batches have been determined";
  • The batching system is set to UTC time. It is recommended to set up your computer’s clock to UTC time;
  • ICANN cannot guarantee the continuous availability and operability of the batching system, and each applicant agrees that ICANN will not be liable for any system issues including but not limited to availability, error, maintenance, security attacks or other technical issues.
Prior to reading the detailed explanation of the batching process, I suggest to read and understand the basics of Batching first. An online video (Batching demo) is also provided by ICANN.

Complete detailed documentation can be downloaded as PDF documents down this page.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

A 2nd applicant for .CORP new gTLD

As revealed by DomainIncite, a second new gTLD applicant wants to sell .CORP domain names.

Check it on DomainIncite.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Donuts applies for 307 new gTLDs

Donuts Inc., a registry for new top-level domain names, has moved assertively to expand Internet namespace with 307 applications for new and varied generic top-level domains (TLDs) in various character sets. The expansion will bring significant new industry competition and fresh choices for Internet end-users who need better, more specific domain names for their products and services.

Read more about Donuts here.

New version 10 of the Applicant Guidebook

A new version of the applicant guidebook (V10) was just published with minor changes. You can find it here. Down the page you will find a link entitled "Summary of Changes to the Applicant Guidebook" which shows, in red, changes with last version.

What are these changes:
  1. Attachment to Module 2 (Evaluation Questions and Criteria), Protection of Geographic Names: Link references are updated;
  2. 3.1, GAC Advice on New gTLDs: Updated for consistency with the formulation of GAC advice;
  3. 3.3, Filling procedures: Updated to provide current reference to Dispute Resolution Service Provider rules;
  4. Dispute Resolution Service Provider fees and rules: Draft provider fees and rules are no longer included in Guidebook as page has been established for the Objection and Dispute Resolution processes and the current information is available at http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/objection-dispute-resolution;
  5. Attachment to Module 5: Registry Agreement, Registry Functions Activity Report: Removed total line for registrars as this report relates to registry functions;
  6. 6.1, Trademark Claims Service: Updated to correct copy/paste error in sentence order: The Trademark Clearinghouse Database will be structured to report to registries when registrants are attempting to register a domain name that is considered an “Identical Match” with the mark in the Clearinghouse. “Identical Match” means that the domain name consists of the complete and identical textual elements of the mark. In this regard: (a) spaces contained within a mark that are either replaced by hyphens (and vice versa) or omitted; (b) only certain special characters contained within a trademark are spelled out with appropriate words describing it (@ and &); (c) punctuation or special characters contained within a mark that are unable to be used in a second-level domain name may either be (i) omitted or (ii) replaced by spaces, hyphens or underscores and still be considered identical matches; and (d) no plural and no “marks contained” would qualify for inclusion. Identical Match” with the mark in the Clearinghouse. “Identical Match” means that the domain name consists of the complete and identical textual elements of the mark. In this regard: (a) spaces contained within a mark that are either replaced by hyphens (and vice versa).
Read the ICANN announcement here.

.BUILD .CONSTRUCTION and .EXPERT Top-Level Domains

The Minardos Group applies for 3 new generic Top-Level Domains:
  1. .BUILD
  2. .CONSTRUCTION
  3. .EXPERT
"If he succeeds, Minardos believes, the money and effort will pay off. He estimates that owning domain registries for .build, .construction, and .expert could each yield up to $7 million yearly for his company, which currently has annual revenue of $50 million. If his applications are approved, website addresses using those extensions will be retailed through companies such as GoDaddy and Network Solutions and he will get a fee for each domain sold, as well as renewals."

Read the announcement here.




Monday, June 4, 2012

4 new Top-Level Domains: .INC .LLC .LLP .CORP

DOT Registry announces their application for four new generic top level domains.

DOT Registry, LLC has pledged their commitment to the business community in the United States by applying for four new community based gTLDs through the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). DOT Registry is applying for .INC, .LLC, .LLP and, .CORP which they plan to use specifically to represent registered US businesses.
Check the official website here.

Fourth applicant for .APP new gTLD

MacPaw Inc is the fourth known company to have submitted a new gTLD application for the .APP string.

The goal is "to create a dedicated namespace for application publishers and developers that will be free from useless, unrelated and harmful web sites. As a result, a .app domain might become a de facto standard for the industry."
Read the announcement here.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Selection of Trademark Clearinghouse service providers

ICANN to select IBM and Deloitte as Trademark Service providers to start the work on implementation of Trademark Clearinghouse services.

Has anyone checked the INPI Database recently and would it be considered as a conflict of interest if one of these companies' employees registered "dotname" as Trademarks?
I will dig into the question and of course, comments are welcome.

Read the TMCH ICANN announcement here.
Other source of information for implementation of the TMCH.

Friday, June 1, 2012

.BANK and .INSURANCE Top-Level Domains

BITS is an entity that allows the Financial Services Roundtable members to collaborate around key technology issues affecting the financial services industry. Previousy, BITS stood for "Banking Industry Technology Secretariat."

Read the press release here (pdf document will download) and explanation of the facts here.

Company to submit 92 new gTLD applications

TLDH confirms it submitted 92 new gTLD application and 68 for itself :

1. abogado
2. .app
3. .art
4. .baby
5. .beauty
6. .beer
7. .blog
8. .book
9. .casa
10. .cloud
11. .cooking
12. .country
13. .coupon
14. .cpa
15. .cricket
16. .data
17. .dds
18. .deals
19. .design
20. .dog
21. .eco
22. .fashion
23. .fishing
24. .fit
25. .flowers
26. .free
27. .garden
28. .gay
29. .green
30. .guide
31. .horse
32. .hotel
33. .home
34. .immo
35. .inc
36. .latino
37. .law
38. .lawyer
39. .llc
40. .love
41. .luxe
42. .pizza
43. .property
44. .realestate
45. .restaurant
46. .review
47. .roma
48. .rodeo
49. .sale
50. .school
51. .science
52. .site
53. .soccer
54. .spa
55. .store
56. .style
57. .surf
58. .tech
59. .video
60. .vip
61. .vodka
62. .website
63. .wedding
64. .work
65. .yoga
66. .zulu
67. 购物 (“shopping”)
68. 网址 (“site”)

Read more here.

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