The cost of the legal fees for the past decade including the IRP and trail court efforts plus other legal consulting fees amount to nearly USD 2million. The most recent appeal cost by Dechert was an agreed fixed fee of USD 170,000.00 which was exponential compared to other similar firms. Even so, Dechert still wanted to renegotiate a fee hike for USD500,000, just before the oral argument, which DCA thought was unethical and did not pay. The trial cost with two bench trials was USD 1,000,000.00 plus. Everyone got paid for what they asked for, except DCA. This is without even considering the over USD 600,000.00 spent on project investment. So, there was no justice in DCA walking away with no relief.
More here.
We're all now waiting for the .MUSIC new gTLD to launch and many predict it will be a success. If I was in the music business, I'd definitely consider changing my domain name to one of these. Of course I'd keep my old domain name but changing to a ".music" one would be my move.
New gTLDs are ten years old now and they are here to stay; the "music" sign is universal, it is not French, but it is know from all ;-) so chances are high that such a domain name extension meets with adoption.
I don't follow many people on Twitter, but I follow .MUSIC founder Constantine Roussos. I once met him in the UK and the guy had a strong fight in front of him with seven more applicants who wanted to create this same registry and I was pretty sure that he wouldn't win that war: the guy had Amazon and Google in front of him...New .BRAND domain name creations have increased since January 2021:
Charleston Road Registry is an American company, wholly owned by Google.
The proposed gTLD will provide the marketplace with direct association to the term, ʺday.ʺ The mission of this gTLD, .day, is to provide a dedicated domain space in which registrants can enact second-level domains that relate to memorable, special, or hallmark days and⁄or physical or online events. This mission will enhance consumer choice by providing new availability in the second-level domain space, creating new layers of organization on the Internet, and signaling the kind of content available in the domain. Charleston Road Registry believes that registrants will find value in associating with this gTLD, which could have a vast array of uses. Charleston Road Registry expects these uses may include but are not limited to applications such as birth.day, christmas.day, wedding.day, rememberthat.day, and event.day.
The proposed gTLD will also provide Charleston Road Registry with the means to meet its business objectives.
New .BRAND domain name creations have increased since January 2021:
The .ABUDHABI new gTLD seems to be launching.#newgtlds #abudhabi https://t.co/wr8Gfzb84I
— Jean Guillon (@jeanguillon) September 1, 2021
New .BRAND domain name creations have increased since January 2021:
The next Round of the ICANN new gTLD program is coming and - just like it was the case in the previous Round - it will probably be very difficult to know what to do for any new comer to the program: where to start from? Who to talk to? What level of service? What price? Etc...
Small Reminder: do not tell the string you plan to apply for unless you have chosen your provider. Signing a NDA does not mean that you have to tell your string with the people you plan to talk to about your project.
I will promote and update that list on social networks and LinkedIn.
The ICANN just updated its list of terminated new gTLDs. Three are Trademarks:
The next round of the ICANN new gTLD program is coming and applicants will need to select a backend registry provider. This publication is not a paid one and I am not pointing to one specific provider. This is just "what I would do" if I needed to select a service provider in the two cases below:
"...We write to provide 180 days’ notice that QVC, Inc. (“QVC”) will terminate the Registry Agreement between ICANN and QVC, effective July 30, 2015 (the “Agreement”), pursuant to Article 4.4(b) of the Agreement. Accordingly, the Agreement will be fully terminated on October 9, 2021.
We note that the “.qvc” Top-Level Domain (the “TLD”) was never used, and the only domain names on the TLD are those that were required by ICANN upon the creation of the TLD – XXX.qvc and XXX.qvc – both of which are owned by QVC. No additional domain names were ever created. Thus, pursuant to Article 4.5(ii) of the Agreement, ICANN may not transition operation of the TLD to a successor registry operator. Additionally, pursuant to Article 4.5(i) of the Agreement, we note that QVC has trademark rights over the name “QVC,” which is also the name of the TLD. A list of the trademark registrations including the name “QVC” owned by QVC, through its wholly owned subsidiary ER Marks, Inc., is attached as Exhibit A".
"On 26 April 2021, QVC, Inc. notified ICANN org of its intent to terminate the .QVC Registry Agreement entered into on 30 July 2015.Pursuant to Section 4.4(b) of the Registry Agreement, Registry Operator may terminate the Registry Agreement for any reason upon one hundred eighty (180) calendar day advance notice.Pursuant to the terms of Section 4.5 of the Registry Agreement, as modified by Section 6 of the Specification 13 (.Brand TLD Provisions), ICANN org consulted with QVC, Inc. to assess whether to transition operation of the .qvc top-level domain (TLD) to a successor Registry Operator.Subject to an ongoing evaluation, ICANN org has made a preliminary determination that operation of the .qvc TLD need not be transitioned to a successor Registry Operator. ICANN org’s review and determinations regarding transition to a successor registry are subject to Section 4.5 of the Registry Agreement (as modified for a .Brand TLD). ICANN org’s preliminary determination to not transition the TLD to a successor Registry Operator is based on the following rationale:In conformance with Section 4.5 of the Registry Agreement (as modified for a .Brand TLD), ICANN org may not delegate the TLD to a successor registry operator for a period of two years without the Registry Operator's consent, which shall not be unreasonably withheld, conditioned or delayed.
- .qvc qualifies as a .Brand TLD.
- Transitioning the TLD is not necessary to protect the public interest.
Before releasing its final determination, ICANN org will consider input provided by interested parties via email. The deadline to submit input is 04 July 2021 – 23:59 UTC".
Dot.
2,850 members have already joined the new gTLD Group on LinkedIn where daily content is posted about the next round of the ICANN new gTLD program, ".BRAND" fresh news and updates from the industry.
Looking for the right partner? Your future backend registry provider or new gTLD consultant? Looking for your next client? Interested in innovative new gTLD projects or updates about upcoming Registries
This group is the place to be: just check who has already subscribed ;-)
The two Trademark claims periods seem to have been updated for both the .RUGBY and the .BASKETBALL new gTLDs:
All reports are updated at the end of each month in the "new gTLD reports" section of Jovenet Consulting.
New gTLD reports are monthly captures of domain name registration volumes according to specific groups, businesses or industries.
On the last day of each month, we capture these registration numbers so our readers can see if these increase or decrease. according to the 20 categories listed below.
The listing is already up-to-date for the month of January 2021 and offers to check the number of domain name registered by .BRAND new gTLD applicants. It is a new report that I am launching in 2021.
The following months will also be made available and allow to check if a Trademark, operating its own domain name extension, creates more domain names or...less.
All reports are updated at the end of each month in the "new gTLD reports" section of Jovenet Consulting.
Description of specific action you are seeking to have reconsidered:
Board and/or Staff approval of Donuts Inc. acquisition of Afilias, Inc., without any transparent or apparently meaningful review nor provision of any opportunity for comment by affected stakeholders. The acquisition was announced1 on Nov. 23 (Thanksgiving week in the US) and apparently closed2 just 36 days later, on Dec. 29 (Christmas/NYE week).
The only mention in any ICANN Board “Resolution” is on Dec. 17, 2020 (published Dec. 21, 2020):3 "No Resolutions taken."
In the Preliminary Report published by the Board on Jan. 5, 2021, 4 there is only this note: "No Resolutions were taken. The Chair stated that the Afilias change of control approval request has been discussed by the Board, and that the ICANN President and CEO, or his designee(s), has the support of the Board to move forward on the request."
Download the full request here (PDF download).
Read the notice of termination (PDF download).
With so many dotBrand new gTLD providers, I start to wonder who (and how) is anyone going to earn money: these are my recent thoughts on the subject.
Some providers offer the full package of solutions: new gTLD (dotBrand) consulting, a backend registry offer (mandatory in the ICANN new gTLD process), retail registrar/corporate registrar services (sometime both). With some domains being paid less than $1 per year at some backend registries, who but the ICANN, is going to earn any money:
Each yearly report contains a monthly snapshot (12 lists) of all domain names created for each new gTLD.
The yearly report is delivered as an Excel sheet containing 12 sheets (one per month), each listing all available new domain name extensions and the number of domain names created (or lost) during each month.
Our offer is available here.
