Navigating an Expanded Domain Name Landscape
| Author | Dina Leytes |
| Position | Attorney at U.S. law firm Griesing Law, LLC |
| Pages | 17-19 |
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17
NAVIGATING AN
EXPANDED DOMAIN
NAME LANDSCAPE
process will need to budget for signicant techni-
cal and marketing expenditure to cover anything
from search engine ranking to email delivery. While
second-level domain names (brand.eco, city.hotel,
band.music) may be available on commercial terms
similar to today’s gTLDs, the annual cost of operat-
ing a gTLD is estimated to range from US$25,000
to US$500,000.
The application process
ICANN will accept applications for new gTLDs from
mid-January to mid-April 2012. If more than 500
applications are received, ICANN will review them
in batches. However, details about the batching
methodology remain unclear. The gTLD applica-
tion process is complex and will require that brand
owners partner with experts in the area; those who
are not already well-versed in ICANN’s
Applicant
Guidebook
may nd themselves behind the curve.
The application process is not without potential
pitfalls. For example, challenges can be lodged by
a public-interest-minded “Independent Objector”
against a gTLD application, as well as on four other
grounds outlined below. In addition, for a 60-day
period at the beginning of the process, ICANN’s
Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) may
issue a “warning” notice for an application con-
sidered potentially sensitive or problematic by
governments. Any challenges could signicantly
increase the costs and time involved in process-
ing an application. Given the contentiousness of
the years-long ICANN process that led to the June
In June 2011, the Board of the Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the
self-regulated nonprofit California-based body
which oversees the architecture of the domain
name system, voted to open the oodgates to
private entities seeking their own .anything online
space. Today there are about 20 so-called generic
top level domains (gTLDs), including .org, .net
and .edu. This is in addition to some 250 country-
code top level domains (e.g., .ch (Switzerland), .mx
(Mexico)).
Many brand owners have enough trouble pro-
tecting their trademarks in today’s domain name
system and are extremely apprehensive about the
increased risks of cybersquatting this expansion
will present, particularly in a dicult economic
climate. Frederick Felman, Chief Marketing Ocer
for MarkMonitor, cautions that the potential for
consumer confusion with the introduction of new
gTLDs is likely to be very high, and recommends
that companies waste no time in promulgating
a strategy to strengthen and defend their online
brand identity in the face of new gTLDs.
A number of brand owners, such as Canon, have
publicly embraced the opportunity to create a cus-
tomized online brand presence. Under their own
.canon space, it would be possible for the company
to create custom product-oriented domain names
such as cameras.canon or printers.canon; this may
even include consumer-oriented domain names
such as yourname.canon.
In addition to applications based on a brand
(.canon), applications based on geographic terms
(.nyc, .paris), terms targeting specic industries or
communities (.eco, .gay, .hotel) and generic terms
(.shop, .music) can also be expected. Some, how-
ever, have questioned the legitimacy of ICANN,
a private entity, operating such spaces for nan-
cial gain. The ICANN application fee alone is US$
185,000 (excluding costs related to application
preparation and legal advice). In addition, a gTLD
application that successfully passes the ICANN
Twenty-ve years since the birth of the premier online commercial space – .com – the Internet is set to
undergo a watershed expansion. Dina Leytes
1
, an attorney at U.S. law rm Griesing Law, LLC considers
what this means for brand owners and the steps they will need to take to defend themselves against
cybersquatting in the expanded domain name space.
Photo: JESS3 - http://jess3.com
1 Ms. Leytes represents
clients in connection
with litigation
and intellectual
property (IP) and
new media matters.
Prior to entering
private practice,
she worked at the
WIPO Arbitration and
Mediation Center.
In January 2012 the
oodgates will open on
the .anything space
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