NBC: Whats coming after .com -- buy your own vanity extension for over $200,000...

[Vision]

Interesting to read how the mainstream media presents the vanity extensions...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27338632...5829?GT1=40000

Buy your own Net suffix — only $200K!

Fee to go toward potential $20 million to cover guidelines, applications

By Anick Jesdanun
The Associated Press
updated 12:06 p.m. ET, Thurs., Oct. 23, 2008

NEW YORK - The Internet's key oversight agency issued preliminary guidelines Wednesday for the introduction of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of alternatives to ".com" in the first sweeping changes to the network's 25-year-old address system.

But individuals should forget about claiming a personal domain name suffix for themselves or their families.

The application fee, scheduled to be disclosed Friday, is expected to approach $200,000 — partially refundable only in limited circumstances — to help cover the potential $20 million cost of crafting the guidelines and reviewing applications.

By contrast, the cost of a personal domain name as part of an existing suffix like ".com" is typically less than $10. Individuals should still be able to register addresses that cheaply; what would be costly is getting their own suffix.

The new suffixes could cover locations such as ".nyc" and ".berlin" or industries such as ".bank." Though the hefty application fees will likely curb a rush for individual vanity names, larger companies might claim brands — like ".disney."

The draft rules would permit addresses entirely in non-English languages for the first time and ban suffixes that use only numerals, to avoid technical conflicts. The proposals also address potential conflicts, such multiple requests for the same name or a bid for someone else's trademark or a geographic location.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names or Numbers, or ICANN, is accepting comments from the public for 45 days and plans to start accepting bids early next year. New names won't start appearing in use until at least the end of 2009.

[nameadvertising.com]

Interesting to read how the mainstream media presents the vanity extensions...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27338632...5829?GT1=40000

ICANN's greed knows no bounds......

[DNWizardX9]

20 million dollar expense?

[Carter]

.com still rules.

[BobDiGiTaL]

20 million dollar expense?

Is ICANN hiring? I can review applications.
How many can there be?
.microsoft .disney .walmart .google, maybe a few more.

[Acro]

Other than the obvious corporate networks that'd benefit from such a "vanity" TLD, I foresee big trouble in little China....a generic word, e.g. "city" is part of 4,000+ trademarks that can be found in the USPTO database. The challenges of allocating the .city TLD to the highest bidder resemble the size of an iceberg: 9/10ths of which are below sea level.

[DNWizardX9]

Acro thats like saying IDN owners won't be able to own Chinese IDN .com's as someone owns the english version.....

[Acro]

ICANN will auction off TLD's when more than 1 party is interested in a new TLD. So how will all these TM holders be notified? Also, is it rightful to spend money in an auction in order to defend one's trademark?

No, it has nothing to do with what you said above.

The two entities that are bound to make the most money out of this domain racket, are the ICANN and the legal representation of the tm holders.

I am sure Michael Bahlitzanakis of City.com would not be thrilled either.

[DNWizardX9]

IDN tlds will be given to their gtld,cctld operators likely so they will not be on the block....

More like .nascar .dumdum .lookatmemomihavemyownext etc

[ZeRohiLL]

king .com will still reign..

I really dont think many will jump on board just to claim their own tld... It's too pricey after many companies have spent millions on advertising their .coms

-Zh

[SeatBeltPads.com]

Is ICANN hiring? I can review applications.
How many can there be?
.microsoft .disney .walmart .google, maybe a few more.

okay at first it might seem tempting for big corps to go this route and do stuff like;

visit.disney, holels.disney, movies.disney

but will it work for google ie: search.google , images.google - looks good on paper but will users want to switch and type in a longer domain???

ALSO as long as .com rules - the SEO strength of these extentions will be questionable


and finally,

there are already way too many extensions to give way to more category specific ones like .bank .star .crap or whatever they do next - I drew the line at .me and thankfully I didn't win any of the ones I applied for - otherwise its all .com and very very very select .net .org and very select .info's

[bwhhisc]

Seems where this is headed is that you can buy your own extension, but most likely you won't be able to sell second level names under that extension. Basically the .extension will be for your own company or personal use.

[Rubber Duck]

ICANN will auction off TLD's when more than 1 party is interested in a new TLD. So how will all these TM holders be notified? Also, is it rightful to spend money in an auction in order to defend one's trademark?

No, it has nothing to do with what you said above.

The two entities that are bound to make the most money out of this domain racket, are the ICANN and the legal representation of the tm holders.

I am sure Michael Bahlitzanakis of City.com would not be thrilled either.

Do you actually know anything about intellectual property rights?

[DNWizardX9]

oops I guess I mentioned IDNs ;-)

[ehdonhon]

Well, the one that I would expect to see is .mac; Apple has been building that brand for years already.

.google or .microsoft? I don't know.. I would expect the corporate giants to pony up the money for the extensions just out of defense, and then sit on them or use them for internal stuff.

I also think you'll see people out there getting creative with the extensions. In the next decade I'm going to guess the application fee will progressively drop until you see all three letter extensions just as gone as the three-letter com's.

[Carter]

king .com will still reign..

I really dont think many will jump on board just to claim their own tld... It's too pricey after many companies have spent millions on advertising their .coms

-Zh

I think the same thing...

[domaingenius]

From what I have seen and heard, not only to do with the vanity tld, I see the internet
breaking up and fragmenting into a number of different "internet's" on each
continent. China is bringing its own tld. Arabs are too. It definately is changing the
stranglehold that owners of .com had over the World. They now have much less
leverage. You can go on all you like about how .com will always be king,but
sorry to say you are wishful thinking. Yes it will remain a major tld but for sure
it will not have such clout in 5 years or so. New generations are coming through
who use their local cc tld as prime one that they look at first.

DG

[Rubber Duck]

oops I guess I mentioned IDNs ;-)

Most of the news that will ultimately emerge out of this will be about IDN. Most of what we have heard is hot air.

Since Acro seems to run-off in a cloud of dust. Lets just try to make a few points clear on IP so you don't all get tangled up in a load of completely dysfunctional arguments:

IP law was largely established before the era of domain names. It is domains that have to fit into that pre-existing framework, not the other way around.

The only terms that holders of Trademarks have absolute rights over are ones that they have made up themselves which haven't previously been used by anyone.

Outside China and Japan a few other non-western cultures, you don't have to register trademarks. Registering them does not make them anymore valid, just easier to demonstrate.

Trademarks can be registered in any of 40 odd categories. Registrations are only valid with the categories registered.

Trademarks are not enforceable on Generic Terms. Trademarks that genericised are not enforceable.

Holders of Generic Domains should be immune to actions against them as long as they are used in a generic way. Similarly, the ownership of a generic domain infers no rights over other domains with same generic keyword. The owner of City.com cannot make any claim whatsoever over the term City in other domains or extensions.

From what I have seen and heard, not only to do with the vanity tld, I see the internet
breaking up and fragmenting into a number of different "internet's" on each
continent. China is bringing its own tld. Arabs are too. It definately is changing the
stranglehold that owners of .com had over the World. They now have much less
leverage. You can go on all you like about how .com will always be king,but
sorry to say you are wishful thinking. Yes it will remain a major tld but for sure
it will not have such clout in 5 years or so. New generations are coming through
who use their local cc tld as prime one that they look at first.

DG

ccTLDs are not a new concept. They have been around since the year dot.

What exactly is the game changer here?

What significance does a continent have? What possible difference would a continental boundary have?

[domaingenius]

ccTLDs are not a new concept. They have been around since the year dot.

What exactly is the game changer here?

What significance does a continent have? What possible difference would a continental boundary have?

The game changer is really (a) the new generation of users that are coming through all the time. They are not brought up on ".com" they are brought
up on "co.uk", ".de" etc etc and thus are going to mbe more likely
to use those cctld's rather than .com (b) the late starting Countries ,like the
arab world, africa etc which again are more into their own cctlds. That
(c) the numerous new tld's that coming into play like say .me and others
That is why I see .com being less significant. It already has had an effect
on prices for the market I sell into. You cannot explain to someone
that knows nothing about domains that .com is the one to have ,because
they have never heard of it OR they do not see the benefits .
The continents make a difference because they are establishing their own
insulated internet and dont use .com

Anyway time will tell what happens to .com but my prediction is
it will become much less important, not more or even the same.

DG

[DNBA]

id say we take control of the situation and put a strike to any new gTLDs. arent we the ones that create the market place?