As part of a process that will see the introduction of new privately operated generic top level domain names (the right-hand most portion of a domain name; "gTLDs"), on June 13, ICANN, the company that oversees the Internet's domain name system, published a list of the top level strings that have been applied for and the identity of the applicants. Applicants have paid an application fee of $185,000. The list is interesting to review. There are a surprising number of banks and other large institutions listed. For example, www.barclays.com could become www.chequing.barclays, www.savings.barclays, www.investing.barclays etc.
The request for gTLDs by many companies might be prompted by internal networking and security advantages, rather than pure marketing, as the original dot-com domains were used for at the turn of the millennium.
ICANN's complete list is available here.
Third parties now have an opportunity to object to any of the applied for strings on the basis that:
- the string is confusingly similar to an existing top level
domain name or applied for string;
- the string infringes the existing legal rights of the objector
(either registered or unregistered);
- the string is contrary to generally accepted legal norms or
morality and public order that are recognized under principles of
international law; or
- there is substantial opposition to the application from a significant portion of the community to which the string may be explicitly or implicitly targeted.
Rights holders and other interested parties are encouraged to review the list and consider whether one of these grounds of opposition is triggered by any of the applications.
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