ACTO now has pressure on .AMAZON

The .AMAZON new gTLD never ending story now looks like it is taking another direction...and dimension.

I ended thinking that the ICANN CEO was in an a bad position - feeling insulted after past letters received from the ACTO - but apparently, by reading the latest recent exchanges, I feel like the ACTO now wants to discuss a better deal...where it resides, in Brasilia.

My first thought was that they wanted to end this application at all costs to protect the Amazon identity from becoming an online giant supermarket, instead of the earth's lung; but these two letters, shared on a 24 hours period of time, look to me like a desperate move from the ACTO to find a deal, instead of nothing.

What is it that you don't understand in "No"?
In a recent letter from the ICANN to the ACTO, ICANN CEO explains that "no", the status of the .AMAZON new gTLD won't change back to its previous one: "Will Not Proceed". The actual status was changed to "Evaluation Complete" which means that the application could see the day: something that the ACTO does not want to see happen to protect countries from the Amazon region...unless a good deal is found maybe?

In this letter dated 27 January 2019, the ICANN CEO explains why the status of the .AMAZON new gTLD could not be restored to "Will Not Proceed": a special board called the BAMC denied the ACTO request. This comes after a letter sent (from ACTO) in December to the ICANN Board where one can read such (rude) things like:

1. "the firm rejection and deep disappointment of the eight Amazon countries at the inexplicable attitude of the ICANN Organization of ignoring the clear messages";
2. "the ICANN President and CEO never reached out to the Amazon countries to follow up on that message";
3. "the ICANN Organization never sent – let alone discussed with – the Amazon countries any proposal";
4. "There were never discussions “with all the concerned parties” simply because there was never a facilitation process";
5. "it was repeatedly and clearly indicated that no country had any mandate to negotiate on behalf of the other members of ACTO";
6. "It is inconceivable and unacceptable that these clarifying questions by the Expert Working Group are now unfaithfully presented as anything other than clarifying questions for the work of the Expert Working Group";
7. "Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela do not and will not bear, collectively or individually, any responsibility for the failure of the ICANN President and CEO to facilitate the development of a mutually acceptable solution for the .AMAZON applications";
8. "the failure of the ICANN President and CEO to establish a facilitation process";
9. "the outright failure to publish previous communications on this issue did not contribute to the building of trust among the parties".

Please, don't close the door

This letter, dated 28 January 2019 (the next day), looks like a final attempt from the ACTO to negotiate something better than Kindles to grant AMAZON the use of domain names ending in ".amazon".

My understanding of ICANN politics is that you should not insult the only authorized organization to say "yes" or "no" to a new gTLD project. That's the problem with monopolies: they decide about the rules, whoever you are, no matter if you preside a country or a region...but I am happy to predict that the ICANN is probably going to travel to Brasilia to find a better deal way for Amazon to use the .AMAZON new gTLD.

The .DEV early access program starts February 19th

There are lots of domain choices these days, and now with .dev there's a space dedicated for developers. Because .dev is a brand new top-level domain, there are lots of great domains available.

Starting February 19th Google Domains will be offering early access to .dev domains. This means you can secure your .dev domain before general availability with a one-time early access fee. Create a calendar reminder to ensure you get your .dev domain before someone else does.

Learn more here.

The 2019 new gTLD reports

A new year is starting and here we go again: once a month we, shall  be updating new gTLD reports focusing on volumes of domain name registered per categories of TLDs. 20 categories are covered below and these are the first 20 reports of the year. "Roulements de tambours" for January 2019:

1. NEW - 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 (no comment).

Please contact us if you believe that an extension is missing in one of these categories.

Interview: the .BEST Brand Protection Program

This is a recent interview that I have done with Cyril Fremont, new operator of the .BEST Registry. The interview is about the new .BEST Brand Protection Program that the Registry just launched for Trademarks to secure their name.

In simple words, with the .BEST Registry, Cyril is also launching another venture named "The.Best". This innovative project is a new kind of social network, using a dedicated domain name extension for the publication of reviews: domain names ending in ".best".

Doing reviews?
You will love to learn more about how you can be granted for using "The.Best" to post them on Internet but to make it simple here, the idea behind the .BEST Brand Protection Program is to offer Trademarks to secure their name(s) prior to the launching of the social network .

The Interview was just published on CircleId.

There's no CMS for .BRAND new gTLDs

I checked the web and found no service provider offering a tool dedicated to .BRAND new gTLDs. I mean by this that a .BRAND Top-Level Domain acquires the possibility to use not one, but as many domain names as it wants; but then, how to manage contents?
If it exists dozens of very good Content Management Systems (CMS) such as Drupal, Joomla, Google Sites, Shopify, WordPress, Blogger, etc, I found none for .BRAND new gTLDs operating multiple domains. I found Drupal but it requires to code a lot and none wants to code a lot when tools such as Goggle Sites offer to operate multiple websites without having to code.

The power of uniqueness
When starting to use a .BRAND new gTLD, a Trademark acquires the capacity to create as many generic domain names as it wants. For example, when previously using a www.whatever-trademark.com, adding to this sometimes hundreds of pages with long URLs; the new operator of his .BRAND new gTLD acquires the capacity to create ultra generic domain names such as, for example, insurance.brand or shoes.brand: this offers the advantages after:

• Segmentation of contents;
• Ultra meaningful domain names for each content;
• Personalized domain names in the name of a brand;
• Very short domain names;
• Easily memorable domain names;
• The SEO benefit due to cross linking between multiple websites (reference to back linking);
• Etc...

Just for the note, insurance.com was acquired for $35.6Million and if the price does not really matter for this publication, the strength of such generic term on Internet has a high value for its descriptiveness and the fact that it is easy to remember.

A ".brand" is unique, a ".com" is not
Let's be frank, operating a website using a CMS is great and the tools available online are very efficient ones, but thinking about changing to operating a .BRAND new gTLD with multiple CMS is just...not feasible and truly a gas machine ("machine à gaz" in French).

If companies often use inside developers to code, or external service providers to maintain their website, a lot - and even prestigious ones - use a simple hosted CMS.

When is this coming to .BRAND new gTLDs and which CMS will be first to come with a solution to host CMS for .BRAND new gTLDs?

The .DEV Sunrise Period starts

The Trademark Clearinghouse announces the Sunrise Period for .DEV domain names. The Sunrise Period starts today.

WHEN

• START: Wednesday, 16 January, 2019;
• END: Tuesday, 19 February, 2019.

WHAT

The .DEV new gTLD is for developers and is the property of Google (Charleston Road Registry). The positive thing about these domain names is that they have to be secured to work properly. the official applications says:

"The proposed gTLD will provide Google with direct association to the term ʺdev,ʺ which is an abbreviation of the word, ʺdevelopment.ʺ The mission of this gTLD, .dev, is to provide a dedicated domain space in which Google can enact second-level domains specific to its projects in development. Specifically, the new gTLD will provide Google with greater ability to create a custom portal for employees to manage products and services in development."

FOR INFORMATION

For information, the .INC Sunrise Period, previously announced to start today was postponed to Wednesday, 27 March, 2019 - 16:00.

Check the Trademark Clearinghouse calendar for more.

Bank surveys and .BRAND new gTLDs

Like me, you probably receive surveys from your bank, wondering about their level of service and how satisfied you are about them (also how they could improve their service), but how do you ensure that your bank is the one asking you questions...and not a third party or a frauder?

This article published on CircleId explains how banks could (should?) improve their level of service - AND TRUST - using their personalized domain name extension.

Jovenet Consulting offers Banks and Trademarks to study the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats to (not) create their personalized domain name extension.

New gTLDs and Politics: one Year in Review

There are domain name extensions dedicated to politics. Right after is a link to my recent article published on CircleId and which covers the year of 2018 with a few notes on registration volumes. The article is entitled "Political New gTLDs: One Year in Review" and this is the list of new gTLDs covered:

1. .DEMOCRAT
2. .EXPOSED 
3. .FAIL 
4. .GIVES 
5. .GRIPE 
6. .GURU 
7. .GOP 
8. .BEST 
9. .REPUBLICAN 
10. .VOTE 
11. .VOTING 
12. .VOTO ("vote" in Spanish)

And by the way: "happy new year"!