IN THE SPOTLIGHT NEW gTLDs
RELUCTANCE OF RIGHTS OWNERS
THE
Trademark owners have been largely avoiding sunrise periods in the first new generic top-level domains to go live. NetNames’s Ben Anderson assesses why, and offers some tips on brand protection strategies.
With more than 100 new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) either in their sunrise or general availability phase,
this is the perfect
opportunity to review the registration numbers, identify growing trends and reflect on what new gTLDs really mean to brand owners.
At the time of writing, there are more than 200,000 domains registered under the new gTLDs that have launched. Many observers are suggesting that these initial figures indicate the overriding success of the new gTLD programme. Compared to
the 265 million-plus domains registered
globally in the existing TLDs, the 200,000 figure represents a tiny fraction of that number. But with many new gTLDs still unavailable to the general public, and the level of consumer awareness still low, the initial numbers are not the best indicator of the programme’s success.
A review of the publicly available zone files
indicates that .guru is the clear favourite among registrants, with .photography coming in second place. At the time of writing, the top 10 gTLDs by volume are:
36 Trademarks & Brands Online
TLD .guru
.photography .today .tips
.technology .clothing .bike
.directory .land
.gallery
Registered domains 41,161 25,308 12,157 11,444 9,066 8,270 8,232 8,194 7,569 7,383
Watching the sun rise
Registrations in sunrise periods are still extremely low, however, with rights owners largely ignoring them. As an example, the .guru gTLD had just over 100 registrations in its sunrise period. Te .clothing domain appears a clear favourite among rights owners, though, receiving more than 550 sunrise registrations.
Compared to the sunrise phases for previously- launched gTLDs, such as .asia—which received more
Volume 3, Issue 1
than 30,000 registrations—it’s clear that participation among rights owners in these initial launches is low.
Why? Do rights owners understand that these launches are taking place? Are they taking a ‘wait-and-see’ approach? Are many opting to block registrations using Donuts’ Domain Protected Marks List (DPML)? Or is it simply a case of ‘gTLD fatigue’—a term heard during the launches of a number of internationalised domain name launches in 2012?
It’s hard to tell, but I think it’s a bit of everything. One thing is clear: many brands have still not put their gTLD strategy in place. Some brands such as Amazon appear to have adopted a ‘register everything’ approach, with zone file data indicating that they have registered a number of trademarks across all new gTLDs in the sunrise phases; the same is true for Merck and Flickr.
Others have chosen to register selectively in the gTLDs that are most relevant to their mark or brand, such as Apple with
facetime.camera, and Marvel Characters with
marvel.gallery. Reviewing similar brands, most appear to be ignoring less
www.worldipreview.com
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