ICANN Announces Requested gTLDs

A week shy of a year ago now ICANN revealed a process to allow organizations to submit applications for new generic top level domain extensions (in addition to the .com, .net, .org and 18 others excluding ccTLDs). You can get more detail in my post Make Your Own TLD? (I want .bacon).

Today ICANN has revealed the list of gTLDs for which random people and businesses have applied. During the January 12 — May 30, 2012 window to submit applications, 1,930 came in.

The process wasn't without some controversy, as when 87 business associations and companies banded together to oppose the process, as outlined in this November 2011 press release: Eighty-Seven Major National and International Business Associations and Companies Join with ANA, Forming the Coalition for Responsible Internet Domain Oversight (CRIDO), to Oppose ICANN's Top-level Domain Expansion Program

Despite that, the ICANN process has been moving along. If, like me, you are curious about the gTLDs for which people are vying, you can get the full list as a CSV file from ICANN, or you can search through the list on the ICANN site.

Of the 1,930 gTLDs, 116 of them are in character sets that the average English-speaking American won't ever see or be able to use (such as Chinese, Cyrillic, and so on). As you go through them, you'll see lots of brand and company names, and even a few slogans in the mix. You'll see some cases where a brand name (such as .youtube) is not registered by the brand owner (Google, in this case), or perhaps ones where the target audience seems a little too targeted (such as .aarp).

Selected Duplicates

Of the remaining (the ones I can read), some of them seem odd, some of them seem too long to type, and some of them are duplicates which means an auction process will kick in to determine who should get rights. Of the over 750 duplicates, here are some of the ones that stood out to me (or just look at my favorites):

String	Applicant	Location	Region
APP	.APP REGISTRY INC.	KY	EUR
APP	Charleston Road Registry Inc. (Google)	US	NA
APP	dot App Limited	GI	EUR
APP	Webera Inc.	AE	AP
APP	NU DOT CO LLC	US	NA
APP	Amazon EU S.à r.l.	LU	EUR
APP	Lone Maple, LLC	US	NA
APP	Dot App LLC	US	NA
APP	DotApp Inc.	US	NA
APP	TRI Ventures, Inc.	US	NA
APP	Afilias Limited	IE	EUR
APP	Merchant Law Group LLP	CA	NA
APP	Top Level Domain Holdings Limited	VG	EUR
BLOG	BET Inc.	JP	AP
BLOG	Afilias Domains No. 1 Limited	IE	EUR
BLOG	Top Level Design, LLC	US	NA
BLOG	Corn Shadow, LLC	US	NA
BLOG	Personals TLD Inc.	AE	AP
BLOG	Charleston Road Registry Inc. (Google)	US	NA
BLOG	Merchant Law Group LLP	CA	NA
BLOG	PRIMER NIVEL S.A.	PA	LAC
BLOG	Top Level Domain Holdings Limited	VG	EUR
BOOK	R.R. Bowker LLC	US	NA
BOOK	Top Level Domain Holdings Limited	VG	EUR
BOOK	Charleston Road Registry Inc. (Google)	US	NA
BOOK	Global Domain Registry Pty Ltd	AU	AP
BOOK	Bronze Registry Limited	GI	EUR
BOOK	NU DOT CO LLC	US	NA
BOOK	Amazon EU S.à r.l.	LU	EUR
BOOK	Double Bloom, LLC	US	NA
BOOK	DotBook, LLC	US	NA
CASINO	dot Casino Limited	GI	EUR
CASINO	Binky Sky, LLC	US	NA
CASINO	Afilias Limited	IE	EUR
CASINO	dotBeauty LLC	US	NA
CLOUD	Symantec Corporation	US	NA
CLOUD	Top Level Domain Holdings Limited	VG	EUR
CLOUD	Charleston Road Registry Inc. (Google)	US	NA
CLOUD	Amazon EU S.à r.l.	LU	EUR
CLOUD	Dash Cedar, LLC	US	NA
CLOUD	ARUBA S.p.A.	IT	EUR
CLOUD	CloudNames AS	NO	EUR
DESIGN	STARTING DOT	FR	EUR
DESIGN	BET Inc.	JP	AP
DESIGN	Top Level Domain Holdings Limited	VG	EUR
DESIGN	Top Level Design, LLC	US	NA
DESIGN	NU DOT CO LLC	US	NA
DESIGN	Black Avenue, LLC	US	NA
DESIGN	Design Trend Registry Inc.	CA	NA
DESIGN	Uniregistry, Corp.	KY	EUR
DOCS	Microsoft Corporation	US	NA
DOCS	Charleston Road Registry Inc. (Google)	US	NA
FREE	Top Level Domain Holdings Limited	VG	EUR
FREE	Charleston Road Registry Inc. (Google)	US	NA
FREE	Amazon EU S.à r.l.	LU	EUR
FREE	Over Keep, LLC	US	NA
FREE	Uniregistry, Corp.	KY	EUR
GAY	Top Level Domain Holdings Limited	VG	EUR
GAY	Top Level Design, LLC	US	NA
GAY	United TLD Holdco Ltd.	KY	EUR
GAY	dotgay llc	US	NA
MAIL	Afilias Domains No. 2 Limited,	IE	EUR
MAIL	Charleston Road Registry Inc. (Google)	US	NA
MAIL	1&1 Mail & Media GmbH	DE	EUR
MAIL	Amazon EU S.à r.l.	LU	EUR
MAIL	Victor Dale, LLC	US	NA
MAIL	WhitePages TLD LLC	US	NA
MAIL	GMO Registry, Inc.	JP	AP
MAP	United TLD Holdco Ltd.	KY	EUR
MAP	Amazon EU S.à r.l.	LU	EUR
MAP	Charleston Road Registry Inc. (Google)	US	NA
MOBILE	Amazon EU S.à r.l.	LU	EUR
MOBILE	Pixie North, LLC	US	NA
MOBILE	Dish DBS Corporation	US	NA
MOVIE	Charleston Road Registry Inc. (Google)	US	NA
MOVIE	dot Movie Limited	GI	EUR
MOVIE	Webdeus Inc.	AE	AP
MOVIE	NU DOT CO LLC	US	NA
MOVIE	Amazon EU S.à r.l.	LU	EUR
MOVIE	New Frostbite, LLC	US	NA
MOVIE	Motion Picture Domain Registry Pty Ltd	AU	AP
MOVIE	Dish DBS Corporation	US	NA
MUSIC	DotMusic Inc.	AE	AP
MUSIC	DotMusic / CGR E-Commerce Ltd	CY	AP
MUSIC	dot Music Limited	GI	EUR
MUSIC	Amazon EU S.à r.l.	LU	EUR
MUSIC	Victor Cross	US	NA
MUSIC	Charleston Road Registry Inc. (Google)	US	NA
MUSIC	.music LLC	US	NA
MUSIC	Entertainment Names Inc.	VG	EUR
NEWS	DotNews Inc.	AE	AP
NEWS	dot News Limited	GI	EUR
NEWS	Amazon EU S.à r.l.	LU	EUR
NEWS	Hidden Bloom, LLC	US	NA
NEWS	Uniregistry, Corp.	KY	EUR
NEWS	Merchant Law Group LLP	CA	NA
NEWS	PRIMER NIVEL S.A.	PA	LAC

Favorites

And now some of my favorites:

• .adult
• .afamilycompany
• .diet (three of these)
• .dot (there were two of these)
• .dotafrica (for the slashdot-literate)
• .family
• .fish
• .foo
• .goo
• .gripe
• .hiphop
• .ieee
• .imdb (by Amazon)
• .ketchup
• .kids
• .law
• .lawyer
• .legal
• .lgbt
• .lol (two of these)
• .men (with no corresponding .women)
• .mormon
• .ninja (for all those self-declared web and social media experts)
• .porn (but no corresponding .pr0n)
• .republican (with no corresponding .democrat or .libertarian)
• .sex (two of these)
• .sexy
• .sucks (three of these)
• .web (seven of these)
• .website (three of these)
• .wtf

So there is a proposal for .ketchup, but nothing for .bacon? Internets, you have let me down.

Related

1. Icann [sic] reveals new internet top-level domain name claims at BBC
2. Here comes .NETFLIX: New Web domain applications revealed at CNN Money
3. ICANN unveils new domain names at net Magazine.
4. Make Your Own TLD? (I want .bacon) by me

Update: 11:41am

I see a lot of traffic coming to this post from people looking for "Charleston Road Registry." A couple minutes in the ICANN application shows that not only does that entity have its address at Google HQ, but the contact is Google's policy analyst. From the application (section 18(a)):

Charleston Road Registry is an American company, wholly owned by Google, which was established to provide registry services to the Internet public. […] As discussed further in the responses to questions 23 and 31, Charleston Road Registry intends to outsource all critical registry functions to Google Registry Services.

I have updated the table above accordingly.

Update: May 8, 2013

The marketing manager for names.co.uk guest-writes a post at .net Magazine ("Google sets precedent for new gTLDs to be open") detailing how Google may be opening up any of the new gTLDs it acquires, instead of restricting their use to just Google brands. The writer hopes others will follow Google's lead.

Make Your Own TLD? (I want .bacon)

The Way We Were

Years ago the general public was aware of three primary generic top level domain extensions (gTLD): .com, .net and .org. There was a huge "land" rush as the dot-com bubble grew and organizations were willing to spend absurd amounts of money to get the .com extension for their business, even building the massive cash outlays into their business plans. Then search engine marketers (snake-oil salesmen) and web development gurus (hacks) started to push organizations to get the .org and .net versions of a domain for assorted reasons.

As ICANN moved to provide more gTLDs, many of which didn't make sense to the average user and gained little traction, we saw extensions like .aero and .museum appear. Registrars hopped on the bandwagon and promoted every new TLD as a requirement to branding your site.

Then countries got into the business by selling access to their ccTLDs, such as Tuvaloo with .tv marketed to to the television industry, and with enough advertising behind it, users started to accept them. The explosion of Twitter and the need for shortened web page addresses further promoted otherwise ignored TLDs, and services like bit.ly helped put the Libyan TLD on the map. Some of us are still curious to see how .xxx pans out.

How It Has Changed Again

As of today, ICANN has approved a process to allow organizations to apply for a TLD of their own (read the PDF press release [and you thought UDRP was complex]). If you are Google, for example, you might want .google. Apple might want .apple. It is conceivable that you could see addresses for search.google, maps.google, ipad.apple, iphone.apple, and other unlikely but possible combinations. Apparently the 22 gTLDs already in play don't offer enough variance for the web.

The process itself may be relatively straightforward. ICANN will make applications available (get the May 2011 draft of the Applicant Guidebook) from January 12, 2012 through April 12, 2012, giving companies time to develop a marketing plan and come up with justification to pay the $185,000 application fee and, if approved, the annual $25,000 fee.

With those numbers you can see the potential for a small set of players who want to give it a go. From ICANN:

New gTLDs will change the way people find information on the Internet and how businesses plan and structure their online presence. Internet address names will be able to end with almost any word in any language, offering organizations around the world the opportunity to market their brand, products, community or cause in new and innovative ways.

If my favorite "cause" ponies up that kind of money for a TLD, I can assure you I'll re-evaluate whether that cause really needs my money.

Given how inexpensive it is to obtain a domain name using one of the current TLDs, I am not sure how ICANN expects companies to justify the expense. The limited window implies that this is just an experiment, but is probably also designed to get organizations to move before they lose their chance. Whether or not the public will understand, and use, these is a different story. Instead, I see value in an existing company (with some cash) to consider finding a two-character gTLD, that is not already assigned through the ccTLDs, and rolling its URL own shortener service.

What is also not clear is what happens when two valid organizations in different spaces apply for the same gTLD. If Champion (spark plug makers) and Champion (t-shirt makers) apply for .champion, how is that sorted out and is the application fee lost for the loser of that decision? Here's ICANN's answer from the FAQ:

It is not feasible for two or more identical strings to occupy the Internet space. Each name must be unique. If there are two or more applications for the same string (or confusingly similar strings), the String Contention procedures would come into effect. Refer to module 4 of the Applicant Guidebook for more detailed information regarding the String Contention procedure.

Module 4 defines two methods in the String Confusion Dispute Resolution process to address this (with the presumption that the parties at odds with one another weren't able to sort it out on their own):

1. Community priority evaluation,
2. Auction

The first one only applies to community-based organizations and an unspecified deposit is required to participate. The second one, the auction, isn't allowed when the extension is for a geographic name. The document then goes into detail outlining the concept of an auction along with general rules (currency, defaulting, etc). At that point, it truly is a pay-to-play scenario.

Conclusions?

Given how many users still type a web page address into Google search, will the new gTLDs really matter? I'm not sure I understand the problem hat ICANN thinks it is solving, or the business case to justify the purchase, but I am also not privy to the players on the board or the pressure they might be getting elsewhere.

The video below shows the vote — well, it shows the vote for the change, but pans away so you don't see how many voted against this or abstained (13 for, 1 opposed, 2 abstentions).

Related

• ICANN
• New gTLD FAQ
• ICANN Approves New Top-Level Domains, So Prepare For .Whatever at Mashable
• ICANN Approves Generic Top-Level Domains: New Era of Innovation or A Flood of Spam? at Read Write Web
• Web expands as ICANN approves new domain names at New Scientist
• Libya's Terror Plot: Link Rot (Linkpocalypse?), October 11, 2010 at this site
• .XXX Domain Approved: Now Begins The Era Of Meaningless TLDs, March 20, 2011 at ZDNet

Update: 10:15pm

Mashable, a resource I generally consider good for quickly covering stories but not so good for providing much depth, has taken some time today to review the ICANN guidebook for the new gTLDs and put together the post 9 Things You Need to Know About ICANN’s New Top Level Domains. It's not terribly detailed, but it does provide a good, quick overview if you need to know something right now. You know, because January is right around the corner.

Update: June 13, 2012

ICANN has announced the list of requested gTLDs. I provide links and list some my favorites at the new post ICANN Announces Requested gTLDs.

Update: May 8, 2013

The marketing manager for names.co.uk guest-writes a post at .net Magazine ("Google sets precedent for new gTLDs to be open") detailing how Google may be opening up any of the new gTLDs it acquires, instead of restricting their use to just Google brands. The writer hopes others will follow Google's lead.