ROUNDTABLE
are going to have to change the way they look at how much money they make. .com currently makes a lot of money because there are lots of registrations coming through. Te other gTLDs have not been as successful because there are only a few of them—not enough to break the .com positioning—which makes .com that much more valuable. In reality, there’s not much competition out there but when they start flooding the market it will knock down .com’s value a bit over time. In five to 10 years' time there will be registries and gTLDs with much smaller pools of consumers using them. If they get used to the likes of .bank .music and .pharma, it may be then that .com gradually comes to mean less and less.
NWS: When I look for pharma online I put it into search engine and I find it that way, but Google has expressly said that it is extension neutral.
SK: Until you get 500 counterfeit pharma sites. When all you get is junk delivered to you— because the only way to make money for some of these people is to game the search engines and because some of the search engines have a financial interest in this occurring, driving consumers to a bunch of pay-per-click ad serve sites, etc.—consumers will have to figure out which ones are the real ones. Tat’s why search engines are going to have to change the way they do business. Tey aren’t really neutral anymore.
What can brands do to ensure that consumers use a new gTLD and not a social network to access their sites?
LG: In terms of consumer behaviour, if you have .com in your browser you’ll continue to go to the .com. But some brands that we talk to are looking for innovative ways to make people go to their .brand. For example, for premium services, mobile services or social networking. It’s the privatisation of the Internet. It’s keeping consumers within their own little corral on the net, but it’s a long-term project that’s going to take time.
www.worldipreview.com
Ther
e is a paradox her net may only be desir . Is ther
use it as consumers, since fr
e that the privatisation of ed by people who don’ eedom is one
t
of the things that consumers champion the Internet for
could alienate customers by doing this?
SK: Each .brand gTLD should be looked at like a brand website, but it simply has a depth and the ability to do a lot more fun things. I don’t let a third party on my website to do what they want. Why should they be able to use my gTLD any differently unless I decide I want that? But there need to be spaces for other things. Tere are problems with set-up and price. Are there going to be spaces for small, local, non-profits? Tey still need to make sure that those spaces exist for freedom of expression.
Despite ICANN’s non-profit status, it is— knowingly or not—creating a very corporate environment on the Internet. For all their arguments about freedom of speech and a broader Internet for everyone, it’s going to possibly be very limiting. ICANN says it’s opening the space up for everyone, but it seems to me the focus on opening the space is on the market possibilities—and I don’t mean .brands, but rather the market value the traditional registrars and registries have been banking on. Tat is what I think will limit the web, in the end. Companies did not want .brands for the most part. Now they are being forced on there for good or bad. I don’t disagree with gTLDs that are going to be brand owned, there must be, but there is failure of ICANN and its key players, I believe, to really think about the other spaces.
ACS: New gTLDs are going to segment the Internet, if you’re right. If I’m a charity, I need to be in the charity space to be noticed. I have to get the .charity space, otherwise I won’t be recognised as a legitimate charity.
SK: Just because brands are getting these e an argument that brands
gTLDs doesn’t mean that the Internet is being segmented. A space is more like a larger website. Te problem is that we need to make sure that those spaces with other types of legitimate content that you can find now are preserved.
But from a corporate perspective, it’s not all just defensive. It’s a brilliant marketing tool, but there are plenty of brands and business out there that can’t afford it.
So who are applying for these registries? Brands, either for defensive, security or marketing purposes, or because it’s a more secure shopping area. I don’t buy that the people going aſter the generics are doing it to simply create a cheap or free space for people to have complete freedom. Don’t let them fool you; lots of people are hoping to make lots of money off of this. Tere’s going to be a cost behind it for everyone, not just the consumer of products, but the everyday person who wants to use the web for non-commercial purposes.
ACS: If you get a generic and can get first-mover advantage, you can attract the people who want to be in that area. You will segment the market and it will be first mover wins.
What is going to happen at end of April 2012, in those few weeks after everyone has applied? What does it look like? What’ ICANN going to do?
s
DT: We are looking at an unprecedented shake up of the domain name system. Te surprise I think will be the number of brands that apply. Te process was never designed for brands. A lot of people pushed for .brand to be created as a separate category. ICANN never wanted to go down that route, but people now are saying that it would have been a good thing to do.
ACS: You will get some surprises, certainly if you talk to the private equity houses who invest in
Trademarks Brands and the Internet Volume 1, Issue 1 19
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60