.BRAND domain name registration volumes

For the past four years, I have edited new gTLD reports with a focus on volumes of domain name registered according to specific categories: "legal", "catering", "the automobile industry", etc... but I did not cover dotBrand Top-Level Domains: specification 13 applications from the ICANN new gTLD program dedicated to Trademarks and brands.

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.

New reconsideration request from .HOTEL applicant

This is how starts the reconsideration request from one of the multiple applicants for the .HOTEL new gTLD. The below was extracted from the request:

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).

Update: the .SPA new gTLD

The ICANN TLD startup information page was updated for the .SPA new generic Top-Level Domain (for domain names ending in ".spa", instead of ".com":

• Sunrise Period: 20 April 2021 to 20 May 2021;
• Trademark Claims Period: 01 July 2021 to 30 September 2021;
• Landrush - 26 May 2021 to 24 Jun 2021.

The official website states: ".spa is a Top Level Domain (TLD) owned by Asia Spa and Wellness Promotion Council (ASWPC) and supported by various international spa associations to help local spa operators build their presence online."

To register a domain name ending in ".spa", see here: www.nic.spa

Updated: .RUGBY and .BASKETBALL new gTLDs

The ICANN TLD startup information page was updated today with two new information concerning the .RUGBY and .BASKETBALL Top-Level domains:

1. .RUGBY (341 domain names created in total):
1. Trademark Claims Period: 01 June 2021;
2. Limited Registration Period: Community Priority Period - 5 Nov 2019 to 31 May 2021.
2. .BASKETBALL (328 domain names created in total):
1. Trademark Claims Period: 01 June 2021;
2. Limited Registration Period: LRP #4 - 21 Sep 2020 to 31 May 2021.

More details available here.

.NATIONWIDE and .ONYOURSIDE are terminated

Two more dotBrand new gTLDs were just terminated. The two Top-Level Domains concerned are:

1. .NATIONWIDE dotBrand new gTLD;
2. .ONYOURSIDE dotBrand new gTLD.

Both termination notices were sent by the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company operating the TLDs the 12/11/2020. The Preliminary Determination by ICANN to Not Transition Operation of the gTLD is dated 25 January 2021.

Read the notice of termination (PDF download).

Which service provider will earn money in the next round of new gTLDs?

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.

Less than $1 at the backend registry provider

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:

1. The Premium domains' strategy? Not with dotBrands and I doubt it is a strategy to follow for generic TLDs, registration figures were definitey not there in the first round of the program and I don't believe the Bla-Bla from some registries.
2. Writing Applications? Check what's next, you're going to hate it!
3. Trademarks and other Brands applying for their dotBrand TLD should pay more per domain "because they can afford it?" Come on...if applying for a dotBrand new gTLD is not just the filling of a form with a price tag (including upcoming yearly costs), it does not mean that they should pay more for a low volume of domains created. A domain created at any backend registry provider costs the exact same than one being sold through the network of accredited Registrars.

Filling your dotBrand application...to be offered?

Many providers want their peace of the cake and to bring in clients...some are already offering the filling of the application for the next round of the ICANN new gTLD program! Note that there are conditions for such offers. In the first round, such service cost up to $90,000 at some providers and that cost did not necessarily include feasibility studies. As you can imagine...one dotBrand applicant might consider twice an offer when such cost can be "avoided".

What about Corporate Registrars?

Many Corporate Registrars subcontracted their clients application to external legal service providers in the first round and note that...IP Law Firm are not necessarily the best one to write your application: they can be very expensive with few knowledge about the ICANN new gTLD culture and from what I saw in the first round, many had NO IDEA about what they were doing. Have a look at the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook dated 4 June 2012, you understand what I am talking about.

If Registrars offer that service to their clients, I don't see - but the filling of the application and an annual operation fee (governance and reporting) - where they earn money? In the next round, things are completely different when choosing the right service provider: most of these costs can be negotiated...or offered. Since the COI (check the applicant guidebook or hit "coi icann" in Google) seems to be becoming history for .BRANDs new gTLDs, the filling of the application should become far easier and most existing providers now have templates to fill in your application: dotBtrand applicants will only need to explain what they want to do with their TLD - understand what they are going to pay on a yearly basis and who to -  and most providers already know what to write much better than clients themselves on the application.

What about external consultants?

I think this is where I stand and except offering consulting services to potential applicants on the best provider to select, for what service and at what price, I doubt there is any money to earn here but I am happy to explain all this in a personalized new gTLD SWOT Analysis ;-) According to your project, I'll point you to the right provider.

And if you want to invest in the next new gTLD innovation, ask us about Project "John Wolley".