Matthew Arnold & Baldwin LLP | Giving you a lot more than just law... » ICANN

ICANN gives go ahead to creation of any top level domain name in any language

Mark Weston — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:59:05 +0000

People will be able to create any top-level domain in any language in any script from 2012 after the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has ended years of debate, discussion and consultation on the issue. It means that the current 22 generic top-level domains (such as .com, .biz and .info) and 250 country code domains (such as .uk and .de) will be expanded to a limitless number. The plans are controversial, because it means that brand owners would have to spend even more than the current fortune to stop cybersquatters from registering a domain name with their brand in it.

However, ICANN is building safeguards into the new system. It would cost US$185,000 to apply for a relevant suffix and the organisation would need to show that they have a genuine claim to that name. They would also need to prove that they meet high technical standards, with IT robustness and intellectual property protections for the brand. The application form would also involve about 50 questions to answer, with each question about 2-3 pages. It will not be easy, but domain name addresses will not look the same again in just a few months’ time as global brands start to change the look of the Internet landscape.

New XXX Internet addresses set up for porn industry, despite widespread opposition

Mark Weston — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:29:19 +0000

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has agreed to create a new top-level domain for the pornography industry. From June, the new domain names ending in “.xxx” will be on sale. There has been debate for about a decade on the creation of this top-level domain. There has been widespread opposition to the new domain names in that time. It is not clear why ICANN has now decided to go ahead with it now. The people who have been pushing for the new domains claim that children will be better protected. However, many disagree. It will still be open for porn to feature on other domains such as “.com” and even the porn industry itself does not like the move as they will have to pay to register additional domain names with no clear benefit.

Google loses out to Groovle in domain name battle

Mark Weston — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:39:22 +0000

Google has lost in its battle to persuade the National Arbitration Forum that the domain name Groovle.com should be transferred to the search engine giant. It had been registered by 207 Media, which claimed that it had been used as a web site for two and a half years before Google complained.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the body responsible for managing technical matters relating to the Internet’s domain name system, established a quick and cheap domain name dispute resolution arbitration service in 2000 for dealing with disputes over ‘.com’ domain names. The National Arbitration Forum is one of the bodies appointed by ICANN to hear the domain name disputes. To win a domain name from a registrant, the complainant must show that it has rights in a trade mark confusingly similar to the domain name, the domain name registrant had no rights in the name and registered and used it in bad faith.

In this particular case, Google failed to show that Google was confusingly similar to Groovle. This is only the second time out of 65 domain name disputes that Google has lost.