Thursday, May 30, 2013

New gTLD applicant creates Governance Councils

Famous Four Media, an applicant for multiple extensions just created a series of Governance Councils to "govern" new Registries to be created.

Many of these strings are in competition and none have yet been allocated to any applicant: 
  • .BASKETBALL
  • .CASINO
  • .BOOK
  • .CHAT
  • .DIET
  • .FASHION
  • .FOOTBALL
  • .GAME
  • .HOTEL
  • .MOVIE
  • .MUSIC
  • .NEWS
  • .POKER
  • .RESTAURANT
  • .RUGBY
  • .SPORT
  • .SOCCER
  • .TENNIS
  • .TICKETS
  • .TAXI
  • .WINE
  • ... 
You will probably like to read why “The .Health Governance Council will be an essential part of the .Health gTLD” on TheDomains.com, followed with a few questions of mine to its representative which have not yet been answered. Also .HEALTH competitor Donuts shares about his competitor's Governance Council on LinkedIn (20+ comments).

The list of Governance Councils can be found down this page : http://www.governancecouncils.com/

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Trademark Clearinghouse: "Cyber-squatters and opportunists will certainly be flying around"

According to this official announcement, "your brand need not fall into a black hole".


To register your brand in the Trademark Clearinghouse, click here or I can recommend a serious TMCH agent and a good Corporate or Retail Registrar.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

The NGPC to hold a series of calls to discuss .WINE and .VIN applicant responses to the GAC advice

The ICANN Board New gTLD Program Committee (NGPC) held a discussion in Amsterdam on 18 May 2013 regarding how and when it could address the Beijing GAC advice.

Regarding wine related applications, both .VIN and .WINE applications were part ot the GAC advice to the ICANN board for further GAC consideration, the GAC advised the Board not proceed beyond Initial Evaluation with .WINE and .VIN.

The NGPC's goal is to carefully consider GAC advice and community input to make decisions that will allow the greatest number of new gTLD applications to move forward as soon as possible.

In its update, the NGPC says: "Over the next few weeks, the NGPC will hold a series of calls to discuss applicant responses to the GAC advice, the Safeguard advice and related public comment".

I understand Donuts will receive calls from the NGPC since it is the applicant for .VIN but not only: Afilias also applicant for .WINE and Famous Four Media should receive these calls too.

I have questions in mind here:
  • Who is the wine expert in the NGPC group?
  • Since none of the 3 applicants are in the wine business: what will their answer be? Will they camp on their position or will they have expected this call and adapted their speech?
  • Will these answers be made public?
  • I did not have the chance to receive an answer from ICANN from my correspondence dated April 3 2013 and entitled "Hints and Solution for the Protection of Wine Geographical Indications in the ICANN New gTLD Program", will the NGPC have a look at it?
  • Regarding .VIN, there have been discussions with the French Government already which have not resulted: will these calls make any difference with the actual situation?
  • Isn't it time ICANN hires an expert for this wine question and...decides?

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Le .LOTTE est arrivé

Les fans de club de pêche à la lotte et autres gastronomes vont être bien déçus. En attendant les prochaines surprises de l'ICANN, un peu d'humour sur le Journal Du Net avec le .LOTTE.

Lire ce brillant article sur le JDN (en Français).

:-)

Le dossier .VIN (et .WINE) intéresse de plus en plus...

Échec ou succès, je ne sais pas encore...

J'ai lancé le projet dotVinum en 2009, à une époque ou je travaillais pour un bureau d'enregistrement accrédité Français. A cette époque, j'avais estimé, grâce au programme ICANN des nouvelles extensions Internet, que les gens du vin pourraient bénéficier d'une identité qui leur soit propre: des noms de domaine qui se termineraient en .VIN, en .WINE et en .VINO.

Chaque jour je regardais les volumes d'enregistrement de noms similaires afin d'effectuer des statistiques très précises sur ce projet et constituer mon propre dossier. Souvent "border line" sur ce projet et n'ayant que ce sujet à la bouche (mes anciens collègues de travail - que je salue en passant - doivent bien rigoler en lisant ce post), j'ai été rappelé plusieurs fois à l'ordre par mon PDG (que je salue aussi en passant, bien entendu). Alors que je souhaitais être suivi par mon employeur qui n'y voyait au début que du bon, l'ICANN a commencé petit à petit à déléguer les dates de lancement, à proposer plusieurs versions de son manuel du candidat. Le temps passant, les dates ne se précisant pas vraiment, je devais décider de ce que je voulais faire.

Un jour, j'ai décidé. Alors que mon employeur venait de vendre sa société à un groupe Anglais et que les relations se tendaient entre tous, j'ai décidé de partir - sans argent - pour tenter de réaliser ce projet. A l'époque, j'avais négocié une autorisation de travailler dans les noms de domaine car mon contrat de travail était ambiguë à ce sujet.
De l'argent, j'en ai trouvé beaucoup par la suite, à l'étranger. Le seul problème c'est que l'on est capable de patienter très longtemps pour de belles promesses. Et alors que l'ICANN continuait de décaler ses dates de lancement, mon partenaire financier m'a dit un jour qu'il n'engagerait personne tant qu'il n'aurait pas plus de précisions de l'ICANN. J'ai donc rencontré plein de monde depuis et répond aujourd'hui aux questions de ceux qui commencent à s'intéresser au sujet des Registres du vin de plus près.

Aujourd'hui, je lis avec grand intérêt les publications de mes anciens collaborateurs dans la presse sur le .VIN. Amusant aussi de retrouver un de mes anciens cadre dirigeant comme conseil d'un des candidats à l'un de ces dossiers. Attristé peut être aussi que ces gens n'aient pas eu envie de faire un dossier commun ensemble. Attristé aussi que les gens du vin Français se réveillent si tardivement à un moment ou ces projets prennent le mauvais chemin. La question de la protection des Indications Géographiques n'est pas nouvelle...

Je ne sais pas dire si j'ai parlé trop fort ou pas assez. Cela dit, il est encore possible d'accorder tout le monde: encore faut-il parler la même langue et des mêmes choses. Et là...c'est mal parti ;-)

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Wellpoint to withdraw its .ANTHEM new gTLD application

Anthem is a trusted health insurance & health care plan provider, dedicated to delivering better care to our members, providing greater value to our customers and helping improve the health of our communities.


Allication withdrawn: .ANTHEM (download the application).

Friday, May 17, 2013

L'Oréal to withdraw its .KIEHLS new gTLD application

At its web site states: "Kiehl's was founded as an old-world apothecary in New York's East Village over 150 years ago. Kiehl's extensive experience has resulted in a unique blend of cosmetic, pharmaceutical, herbal and medicinal knowledge developed over generations".


Application withdrawn: .KIEHLS (download the application).

Thursday, May 16, 2013

New gTLDs: The dark horse in market

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

ccTLD not assigned

I just read about the country code Top-Level Domain for SAINT BARTHÉLEMY to be assigned soon (not sure wether this is true or not): the unassigned .BL domain name extension.

Checking the list of ccTLDs at IANA, I found that more ccTLDs are not assigned neither:
  • The .BQ for BONAIRE, SINT EUSTATIUS AND SABA;
  • The .EH for WESTERN SAHARA;
  • The .MF :-) for SAINT MARTIN (FRENCH PART);
  • The .SS for SOUTH SUDAN;
  • The .UM for UNITED STATES MINOR OUTLYING ISLANDS.
Some IDNs are not assigned yet neither.


.bzh and .paris New gTLDs

.bzh and .paris new gTLDs obtained ICANN’s approval on Friday May 10.
Read the AFNIC press release for more info.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

New gTLD advice: listen to the Chair

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

New gTLDs: Money Maker

There are fascinating ideas about how, when and more than everything: who is going to earn money from gTLDs.

I think back-end registry providers will earn money, some applicants will earn money too but my experience launching Eurid, the registry for .EU, reminded me one thing: these days just before launching, until the (first) Sunrise period is launched. These days are special because the entire team is prepared, has been trained, and knows what to do.

So why were these days special and what does it have to do with earning money?
Well...it is very simple but I will let you guess a little more...

Read this article on CircleId.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Radix Registry Passes 4 New gTLD Initial Evaluations

AUSTIN, Texas and DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, May 07, 2013 – Radix Registry, the new TLD Company of Directi, has passed the initial evaluation stage on 4 of its TLD applications, .blog, .hotel, .online and .insurance.

Directi, a global leader in Internet products and Web services, under its new brand Radix had applied for 31 strings comprising several generic and mass market names. A month back, it was announced that Directi, Tucows and Namecheap will join forces to manage the .online registry, the string which successfully cleared the initial evaluation as mentioned earlier.

”All the hard work went into exploring every minute detail in building the application has paid off. Each application was custom made as per the TLD and we didn’t follow the cookie cutter approach like others”, said Bhavin Turakhia, CEO of RadixRegistry.

The applications which are next in line are .hosting, .music and .city. “Apart from customizing the applications, meeting all the ICANN prescribed standards also helped us to successfully clear the Initial Evaluations”, added Mr. Turakhia.

Radix, the largest applicant from the Asia-Pacific Region, is the sole ICANN gTLD applicant for the .space, .press and .host strings. Radix previously announced that it has invested $30 million in to the application process. To know more about the strings they have applied for, please check http://radixregistry.com/.


About Radix

Radix FZC is a Directi Business whose mission is to become the registry operator of a variety of top level domains. Radix will be an active participant in ICANN's process to expand the Internet naming system, and will aim to obtain rights to operate several new generic domains. Radix will leverage Directi's rich domain expertise, and will be led by an able team that has helped flourish some of Directi's existing registrar and web hosting businesses.

About Directi Group

Directi (http://www.directi.com) is a $300+ million group of Businesses that develops innovative mass-market Web Products serving millions of Customers worldwide. Directi businesses include ResellerClub.com, BigRock.com, LogicBoxes, Media.net, Skenzo and rank amongst the fastest growing businesses worldwide in their corresponding industry segments. The combined Product Portfolio of various Directi businesses includes - Communication and Collaboration apps, Social Networking software, Instant messaging, Context Analysis Engines, Antispam and Antivirus Solutions, Large scale Billing and Provisioning platforms, Traffic Monetization Solutions, Online Advertising Solutions, DNS Management Products, Linux and Windows Server Management Software, Web Hosting Control Panels and much more. Directi is headquartered in Dubai, UAE and has more than 800 employees world-wide across five offices in the UAE, India, United States, and China.

A few things I read about new gTLDs recently

  1. Google Inc: GOOG alters algorithm in preparation for launch of new gTLDs; value of new gTLDs tipped to increase significantly, click here;
  2. Public comment on the revised draft of the New gTLD Registry Agreement, click here;
  3. .VIN & .WINE new gTLDs: CHAMPAGNE wines strongly support the position expressed by the GAC, click here;
  4. An applicant is pissed by ICANN delays and explains consequences of these multiple delays, click here;
  5. New TLD applicants can learn some lessons from .TEL, click here.
There is more on the "new generic Top-Level Domains" group on LinkedIn (almost 1200 members). It is free to join, to discuss and ask questions.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

More press review about .WINE and .VIN new gTLDs

I suggest to copy and paste links:
  • http://www.lepopulaire.fr/france-monde/actualites/societe/techno/2013/10/19/le-vins-d-appellation-d-origine-s-inquietent-des-futurs-sites-en-vin-1535347.html
  • http://www.winenews.it/news/30938/con-i-domini-wine-e-vin-ce-rischio-di-una-mancanza-di-tutele-per-le-denominazioni-europee-lallarme-di-cnaoc-confdration-nationale-producteurs-de-vins-dappellations-dorigine-contrles-ed-efow-federazione-europea-vini-dorigine
  • http://www.lyonne.fr/france-monde/actualites/societe/techno/2013/04/30/le-vins-d-appellation-d-origine-s-inquietent-des-futurs-sites-en-vin-1535347-commentaire.html
  • http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2013/04/30/1617263-la-viticulture-menacee-sur-internet.html
  • http://www.lamontagne.fr/france-monde/actualites/societe/techno/2013/04/30/le-vins-d-appellation-d-origine-s-inquietent-des-futurs-sites-en-vin-1535347.html
  • http://www.jianiang.cn/yejie/hangye/0501192922013.html
  • http://www.lyonne.fr/france-monde/actualites/societe/techno/2013/04/30/le-vins-d-appellation-d-origine-s-inquietent-des-futurs-sites-en-vin-1535347.html
  • http://www.larep.fr/france-monde/actualites/societe/techno/2013/04/30/le-vins-d-appellation-d-origine-s-inquietent-des-futurs-sites-en-vin-1535347.html
  • http://www.amba.fr/viticulture-menacee-internet-20663.html
  • http://mobile.lesoir.be/234005/article/actualite/fil-info/fil-info-internet/2013-04-29/vins-d-appellation-d-origine-s-inquietent-des-futurs-sites-en-vin
  • http://www.vinehoo.com/news/details_18047_1.aspx
  • http://www.estrepublicain.fr/education/2013/04/30/consozapping
Note some of these releases not only come from France but China and Italy.

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