The .EPOST new gTLD was terminated

The .EPOST new gTLD registry agreement was terminated: on 27 March 2019, ICANN provided Deutsche Post AG with a Notice of Registry Agreement Termination.

What the application said:

According to the Applicant, Deutsche Post AG (ʺDeutsche Postʺ), the mission and purpose of the .EPOST TLD are manifold, as will be further explained below.

Broadly speaking, the mission and purpose can be divided into brand-, convenience-, and security-related issues. The security-related issues refer to the idea underlying the product E-POSTBRIEF which - generally speaking - aims at taking the classic letter into the Internet, thereby supporting confidential, binding and reliable communication (i.e. secure electronic communication, as well as trusted transactions).

At this, the product E-POSTBRIEF is the pioneering product of the E-POST-platform which, in the future, will combine various services and products all dealing with trusted transactions and secure electronic communications - such as payment and⁄or identification services. It is envisioned that .EPOST will serve as the umbrella domain for all of these services and products.

The benefits of .EPOST are envisioned to be as follows:

1. SECURITY FOR THE BRAND: First and foremost, securing and protecting the distinctive component of one of Applicantʹs key brands (ʺE-POSTBRIEFʺ and ʺE-POSTʺ respectively) and popular URL ʺEPOST.deʺ as a gTLD;
2. SUPPORT FOR INTERNATIONALIZATION: Provide for a global platform in order to effectuate Deutsche Postʹs plans to roll out ⁄ to internationalize the innovative services offered by Deutsche Post under these brands;
3. SUPPORT FOR NAVIGATION ⁄ ORIENTATION: Since both the Applicantʹs product in general as well as the key brands ʹE-POSTBRIEFʹ, respectively ʹE-POSTʹ in particular have many different (sub-)categories, features and⁄or functions, the gTLD .EPOST enables an unambiguous and distinctive navigation or mapping for the users.
4. gTLD AS A SEAL OF QUALITY: 
1. the gTLD as an ʹextensionʹ of the brand and its values: As not only the Applicantʹs but also the key brandsʹ (ʹE-POSTBRIEFʹ and ʹE-POSTʹ) main value is ʹtrustʹ, the gTLD should provide stakeholders of the Applicant with a recognizable and trusted identifier on the Internet. Such stakeholders include, but are not limited to:
1. its subsidiaries in various countries;
2. affiliate partners; 
3. sponsorships;
4. prospective and current customers; and
5. directors and officers of Deutsche Post and its subsidiaries, including its employees.
2. the gTLD as an ʹextensionʹ of the brandʹs promise ⁄ unique selling proposition: Since the Applicantʹs product ʹE-POSTʹ and other upcoming products enables customers to safely and securely communicate online, it seems logical to provide such stakeholders with a trusted, secure and safe Internet environment under the control of the Applicant, in which they are able to obtain information from and communicate with the Applicant and where they are able to obtain genuine information provided by Deutsche Post and its approved stakeholders.

Click here for more.

The .INC Sunrise Period begins

Announced by the Trademark Clearinghouse, the Sunrise Period for domain names ending in .INC is starting.

WHEN

• START: Wednesday, 27 March, 2019 - 16:00
• END: Tuesday, 30 April, 2019 - 16:00

WHAT the applications says
.inc intends to be an open gTLD for those who believe that a name itself can make a difference.

The .inc Registry believes in the economic and social value of a broadly generic namespace whose meaning will be defined by the users and registrants of the domains rather than predetermined by the Registry. The vision of the Registry is that the availability of .inc TLD as a distinct, attractive new frontier for the Internet challenges the prevailing mindset within and beyond the industry, which in turn serves to foster innovations with prospects of redefining how namespaces can be imagined.

The mission and purposes of the .inc Registry are:

1. To operate the .inc TLD as an open namespace that is globally recognized as a frontier and platform for Inter-connectivity, Internet activity and development;
2. To promote a socially responsible approach for the development of the .inc namespace that balances the respect for the rights of others with fostering innovation;
3. To encourage the creative use of domain names and to enhance consumer choice with the acceptance that names can represent value in and of themselves; and,
4. To preserve and advance the security and stability of the Internet and the DNS in the operation of a economically viable and socio-technically sustainable registry.

Many feel that “value” is created only with the content and services served under a domain, while the domain name itself is purely an address providing means for navigating, or occasionally “categorizing”, the Internet. The .inc Registry challenges that mindset with a proposition that domain names can be substance itself, echoing Marshall McLuhan’s celebrated observation that “the medium is the message”.

The Registry intends to offer “.inc” domain names for open registrations. Nevertheless, the Registry understands and acknowledges that the string “inc” is used as a short form of “incorporated” and a form of registered legal entity in the United States, Canada, Australia and the Philippines. What is important to note is that the collective represents a minority in the global context based on their collective population, Internet users as well as size of the economies as compared to the world at large.

Even though this represents a minority community, the Registry is committed to take strong measures to curb abusive registrations that exploit this. These include, in addition to standard Rights Protection Mechanisms, comprehensive extra reservation and Sunrise processes, prolonged priority periods, special claims and notification procedures that aim to ensure a stable and orderly launch of the .inc TLD into the technical and social fabric of the Internet.

In addition, to its mission and vision, as a new gTLD, the Registry believes in its responsibility as a responsible industry participant to advance competition, enhance consumer trust and promote consumer choice with the development of the TLD:

1. Advance Constructive Competition: a critical feature of the DNS, with a single authoritative root, is in its maintenance of global uniqueness of names. As a broad generic TLD, “.inc” presents itself as an attractive alternative to existing generic TLDs. While the Registry believes that .inc would likely attract serious business users, we further believe in allowing the users of “.inc” to ultimately define what it means to them. The meaning of words and phrases changes over time. And in the context of a broad generic TLD, we believe that not pre-determining what it fully stands for may in fact be better.
   As a good example, “.com” which was intended to mean “commerce” is perceived by many internet users as possibly meaning “company”, “communications”, “computer” and others. The .inc Registry aspires to let end users and registrants define what “.inc” means to them. Through which, the Registry aims to advance constructive competition by providing a fully open and broadly generic namespace, which in turn challenges the prevailing mindset about top-level domain names, which often believes either in a category-based notion or a TLD agnostic view.
   The .inc Registry imagines a new possibility where a TLD represents a meaningful part of a domain name expressing a deliberate choice for an identity. For example, “Monsters Inc” was the name of a feature film from Disney, and “monsters.inc” would be a good domain for the movie even when “Monsters Inc” is not actually a registered incorporation. The Registry believes in opening up further opportunities for creative development of .inc names.
2. Enhance Consumer Trust: the .inc Registry is dedicated to ensuring a secure and stable TLD platform (technology infrastructure) as well as an orderly introduction of the TLD (policies) to enhance consumer trust for the Internet and the DNS. The Registry will put in place Rights Protection Mechanisms and Abuse Prevention & Mitigation policies above and beyond the standard ICANN requirements described in Specification 7 of the New gTLD Registry Agreement. Furthermore, the Registry believes in maintaining an open TLD with broad appeal without predetermining.
   Strong and comprehensive RPM and APM policies serves to curb abusive registrations and enhance consumer trust. At the same time, overly restrictive or protective policies would mean a bias in favour of corporations and vested interests, which goes against consumer trust. Therefore, the Registry believes in a balanced 3-prong approach:
1. Thorough set of startup processes, along with robust and effective procedures, will be put in place to ensure that prior rights of others are protected through priority registrations by eligible registrants (including duly registered “inc.” designated companies);
2. Open registrations with equitable allocation processes (non-chaotic contention resolution processes during startup, and first-come-first-served approach upon GoLive) that do not compromise the integrity of the registry (including special considerations for reserving names of duly registered “inc.” designated companies);
3. Ongoing abuse prevention mechanisms including the use of standard RPM dispute resolution processes, as well as additional claims and notification processes (especially for duly registered “inc.” designated companies).
   Together, protective startup mechanisms, open and equitable allocation processes as well as ongoing measures to mitigate against abuse, provides the foundation that enhances consumer trust.
3. Promote Consumer Choice: as an open gTLD, the .inc Registry believes in promoting consumer choice by offering a broadly generic name for registration. Furthermore, the Registry believes that the registrants and end users of “.inc” domains will eventually define what “.inc” means. This promotes consumer choice of how a gTLD can be used and what it represents.

Check the date on the Sunrise Calendar from the Trademark Clearinghouse.

New gTLDs: how to distribute your news

Send an email to post@jovenet.consulting:

1. The object of your email is the Title of your news;
2. The content of your email is the Content of your news:
1. Write one line of text, no more;
2. Add a "Learn more" or a "Read the full story" with a hyperlink to your article.
3. Done.

Your news will be used and distributed by Jovenet Consulting to its new gTLD network.

Note that content is moderated so spam, crap, and content not related to new gTLDs don't go through.

To check if you were published, see here.

Follow-up with new gTLDs

There are several way to follow-up with new gTLDs. One of them is to check all known websites informing about the subject. Another one is to subscribe to a "feed" which delivers the news to you. These are the some tools you can use:

1. The new gTLD Group on Google:
1. To post: email to post@jovenet.consulting (group is moderated)
2. To read: just visit the group
3. To receive alerts: ask for an invitation
2. The gTLD Newsletter;
3. The new gTLD group on LinkedIn (note that LinkedIn does not send alerts anymore and requires to visit the group;
4. More options are available here.

Owner of Bank.best explains his acquisition

A Trader just acquired BANK.best and explains his plans for this very specific domain name.

 

".BEST ORIGINAL SERIES" are episodes of the .Best team or guests, explaining who they are, what they do, what is their vision, and what are the news coming.

Subscribe here.

Bright way to inform about new extensions

I just saw that offer for Premium domain names sold "in a package" and I find that this is a bright way to offer them. If I am not so much in buying Premium domain names or participating to auctions, I believe that considering categories of TLDs is very important prior to buying a domain name at the regular price. For example, one would be interested to know that there is a dozen of domain name extensions dedicated to the business of Music. When preparing to buy a domain name to publish a content about Music...one should better know about what exists on the market.

Categories of TLDs did not exist in the past
In "the past", you would have bought a ".com", or a domain name from your country of residence ending in two letters. Today is different, when buying a new domain name within a certain business, it remains difficult to be informed that many extensions could match with the second level domain desired; even worse when the plural version of a domain name extension exists: if you are in the Real Estate business for example, you should check this list of domain name extensions before buying. I would also suggest to check that list of similar extensions too...and maybe that one too* for plurals.

What I saw
I follow a limited number of Twitter accounts and the Registry of African Geo TLDs Twitted this link on which you can read ".Africa - .CapeTown - .Durban and .Joburg domains from only $1.50 per slice". As a person interested in buying domain names from this region, I would certainly be interested in knowing that these domain name extensions also exist for the domain name that I am about to buy.

What about Registrars?
I know how difficult it is to create the right algorithm to suggest registrants the right domain name but unless I am wrong, and after checking at many registrars, all focus on the second level domain and none on the first level domain itself.

* These lists are frequently copied by Corporate Registrars lacking ideas ;-)

New bTLD stands for blockchain Top-Level Domain

Isn't it exciting? A new ICANN acronym was just invented and we could hear about it while the next round of the ICANN new gTLD program prepares. Small reminder:

• new gTLD stands for "new generic Top-Level Domain";
• ccTLD stands for "country code Top-Level Domain";
• bTLD now stands for blockchain Top-Level Domain".

#EnCirca BTLD new acronym joins ccTLD and gTLD #icann #blockchain #btlds https://t.co/KSchpSRhyp

— EnCirca (@EnCirca) March 11, 2019

New gTLDs: Round 2 possible timeline

Quarter one of 2022 is the possible date announced for the next round of the ICANN new gTLD program: 10 years after. This slide was extracted from the an ICANN meeting yesterday.

(click to enlarge)

To follow up with all this, check the group for new gTLD News. For questions: Jovenet Consulting.

Community new gTLD applications: wrong choice

This article was first published on CircleId.

Community new gTLD applications were one of the three options offered by version 1 one of ICANN new gTLD applicant guidebook. It was also possible submit a "generic" or a "geographic application". I dug on the ICANN website and found out that, in the end - and according to me only - it was a bed choice to submit such application.

The figures

• The ICANN website lists 84 applications submitted to the ICANN;
• 52 were delegated;
• 20 were withdrawn;
• 10 have/had objection(s);
• 9 receive a warning from a government (at least);
• 5 had a string contention;
• 4 are still "on hold" (.MUSIC - .KIDS - .MERCH - .HOTEL);
• 3 were not approved;
• none received an applicant support from the ICANN;
• the .BUGATTI new gTLD is a community application (...), not a .BRAND
• Many trademarks submitted community applications;
• some city names and territories are listed as community applications (.PARIS - .WIEN - .BZH ...);
• ICANN sometimes forgets to update its datas so some of the 84 applications mentioned could have changed.

"Volumes", "usage" or both?
I went through the 52 delegated applications to investigate which ones have lots of domain name registrations and which ones don't. Volumes of domain name creations are important because they are a good indicator if the new gTLD is a successful project or not. Now: are volumes an indicator of usage: it is up to you to decide and don't care what you think ;-) This is what I found:

• The .OVH new gTLD has 62,000+ domain name registrations;
• The .BERLIN new gTLD has 54,800+
• The .PARIS new gTLD has 20,900+
• The .SWISS new gTLD has 17,900+
• The .WIEN new gTLD has 15,400+
• The .HAMBURG new gTLD has 23,400+
• The .SCOT new gTLD has 11,500+

All other new gTLDs unlisted here have less than 10,000 registrations. This is surprising because we have very generic terms such as .ARCHI (for architecture), the .SKI and .NGO new gTLDs. The .ECO domain name extension has 3,8400+ domain names created.

Conclusion
We can easily see that none of these applications has passed the 100,000 registrations. If I perfectly understand that prices are not the same to register a domain name and "usage" matters; well, I also know how much it cost to maintain a registry and I would not want to operate a registry that has less than 10,000 registrations. In all of these cases, and no matter if a multiple registry lowers its cost operating multiple extensions, I am not sure that it is worth it to submit "another" community application in the next round of the ICANN new gTLD program...just because it limits domain name registrations to that specific community and also...because figures demonstrate that on a list of 52 TLDs, 7 only have more than 10,000 domain names on the market. Note that this does not even mean that they are used with a real website. We also know that restricting registrations to a so called community is just a line on the paper, anybody can pay to register a .SKI domain name (for example), it is absolutely not "restricted" in reality.

So: worth it for the next round? No...but that's just according to me.

.BEST : complementary to .COM ?

Announced this morning by the registry, the number of 10,000 domain name registrations was reached. The number is interesting here because it took a few months for the new operator of ".best" domain names to reach out to this number compared to other new registries which have existed...for years and were created during the first wave of the ICANN new gTLD program dated 2012 (the first TLDs were delegated in 2013).

Just for the note
It is important to mention that:

1. the registry is not (yet?) present in China;
2. the innovation around this specific registry is coming in the future: an entire social network based on the use of domain names ending in ".best"

.BEST is complementary to .COM

There are "descriptive keywords" and "descriptive keywords". If this sentence means nothing in English, it means something in French: the ICANN new gTLD program offers plenty of keyword possibilities; some are defined by the program itself: "generic", "community" and "geographic"; but if a geographic TLD offers precision, "generic" and "community" can mean lots of different things. For example, did you know that .BRAND new gTLDs were considered as "generic" Top-Level Domains?

If I will leave the definition of "community" TLDs apart, since defining a community is always hard, generic TLDs can deliver much more precision:

• Simple keywords referring to an industry subject like the .REALESTATE new gTLD;
• Niche TLDs like sports: the .TENNIS new gTLD for example or .PIZZA for a specific food;
• Reference keywords: the .COM Top-Level Domain is one since time made of this string a reference. The .BEST new gTLD is one too.

One will not start the website of his company using a ".best" domain name because it would sound sarcastic, but if one's business did not want to be the best...then why bother creating a business? This is where ".best" domain names should also be registered and used by ".com" registrants: ".best" domain names should point to the best of a ".com" websites. For example, many heard of the French "Les Galleries Lafayette" and its famous website www.galerieslafayette.com : isn't it time to offer the best of "Les Galleries Lafayette" on www.galerieslafayette.best showing sales only for example? I'd definitely visit!

The best alternative for promotion
According to a recent Twit showing ".best" new domain name registrations, it is clear that .BEST domains are becoming the best alternative to promote a product or a service in addition to a ".com" Trademark domain. For example, Layerhost, a hosting service provider registered layerhost.com for its Trademark domain name and also webhosting.best to promote its web hosting service. This company wants to say that it offers the best web hosting.

In this type of naming strategy, we can easily imagine Marriott.com being the first to register generic domain names such as: hotels.best, nychotel.best, londonhotel.best, vegashotel.best, ...

Investors are concerned
Registration figures also demonstrate that the .BEST new gTLD as a huge potential for investors in terms of domain name availability when mixing a city name to a certain kind of business.

In the listing above, name of cities appear attached to keywords such as "lawyer" or "bankruptcy": I would certainly not be surprised that these registrants may be either investors or businesses protecting their online area of business.

Just noticed these IDN strings but...

Once a month, I track new gTLD registration volumes and decided that IDN would not be part of my reports because I am selfish, lazy and more important: I don't understand IDNs since they are in a language that I can't read. I will probably add these to my report one day when I have enough sponsors for my publications ;-)

I went through the official list of delegated new gTLD and noticed that four IDN strings are already listed in my reports - in their ASCII version - but I never heard about them...because they are IDNs.

An IDN for .WEB or .NETWORK
There is an Arabic version of a string in competition with ".web" or/and ".network" domain names; the شبكة (xn--ngbc5azd) new gTLD has more than 800 domain names created. It was delegated more than five years ago.
Check the list of TLDs in competition with this IDN.

An IDN for .ONLINE
There is a Russian version of a string in competition with ".online" domain names; the онлайн (xn--80asehdb) new gTLD has 3,220 domain names created. It was delegated in 2013 and competes with the same strings from the list above.

An IDN for .SITE
There is a Russian version of a string in competition with ".site" domain names; the сайт (xn--80aswg) new gTLD has 1,160 domain names created. It was one of the first new gTLDs to be delegated in 2013.

An IDN for .GAME(S)
There is a Chinese version of a string in competition with ".game" - ".games" and ".juegos" domain names; the 游戏(xn--unup4y) new gTLD has 160 domain names created. It was also delegated in 2013 and should be added to my list of similar TLDs in the future.

The .AIRPORT new gTLD coming?

This sounds like an official announcement from a website that I just spotted: there will be an applicant for the .AIRPORT new gTLD.

If such a Top-Level Domain for Airports makes sense to me, I remember that we already have the .AERO legacy domain name extension which has existed for "centuries" and I don't remember spotting any domain name ending in ".aero" from my entire life.

Just for the note, the .AERO legacy Top-Level Domain was established on December the 19th 2001, and has 20,000 (more or less) domain names created.

I guess that's the question: why would ".airport" domain names catch the attention of all airports worldwide when the ".aero" legacy generic Top-Level Domain kind of "never saw the day"? Is it because ".aero" is a restricted extension, "reserved exclusively for aviation"? Is it because "aero" is too wide and does not offer the precision required to define an airport? Is is because the backend-registry does not contribute more to promoting the TLD of its client? (Roland, I hope you won't read this).

Check the official announcement on www.dotairport.com. The pitch is rather good and delivers the true message why new gTLDs really make sense today.

(I would personally have used the same second level domain but with a ".domains" as the extension to support the project ;-)

New gTLD reports for February 2019

It is the end of February 2019 and I spent a big part of my day updating these reports "one by one". I suggest to have a closer look at the report on Singular and Plural new gTLDs (and push to reading the list of similar new gTLDs).

1. New gTLDs related to POLITICS (.gop - .vote - .republican - .democrat - etc...)
2. New gTLDs related to LUXURY (.rich - .yachts - .chanel - etc...)
3. New gTLDs related to the MUSIC community (.music - .band - .hiphop - etc...)
4. Multiple Registries : group of Registries operating five (5) and more domain name extensions
5. Singular VS Plural versions of a new gTLD : these are domain name extensions which exist in their singular and plural version (ie: .gift and .gifts)
6. New gTLDs related to CATERING and CULINARY (.restaurant - .kitchen - .bar - etc...)
7. New gTLDs related to PHOTOGRAPHY (.photo - .film - .gallery - etc...)
8. New gTLDs related to CITIES : these are city names only (.paris - .london - .tokyo - etc...)
9. New gTLDs related to COMPANIES : new domain name extensions that we believe a company should keep its eyes on
10. New gTLDs related to the LAW and LEGAL matters (.legal - .attorney - .lawyer - etc...)
11. New gTLDs related to FINANCE (.credit - .capital - .finance - etc...)
12. New gTLDs related to a COLOR (.orange - .pink - .green - etc...)
13. New gTLDs related to SPORTS (.hockey - .basketball - .ski - etc...)
14. New gTLDs related to ALCOHOL (.beer - .wine - .vodka - etc...)
15. New gTLDs related to REAL ESTATE (.realestate - .realtor - .villas - etc...)
16. FRENCH new gTLD applications : these are applications submitted by French companies only
17. New gTLDs related to RELIGION (.catholic - .bible - .church - etc...)
18. New gTLDs related to CARS (.taxi - .auto - .car - etc...)
19. New gTLDs related to HEALTH (.health - .doctor - .hospital - etc...)
20. New gTLDs related to ADULTS.

To be added in these reports, contact me.