There will be a roll-out of new generic but top-level domains by the middle of 2013. In hopes to prevent any problems with trademark disputes, the Trademark Clearinghouse Group will be opened late next month.
This trademark session will allow companies and individuals to request trademark protection. This is to prevent those who are unaffiliated with a company from taking the company’s name.
Currently, there are 22 gLTDs like .com, .net, and .org. Back in the summer of 2011, ICANN gave the green light to go ahead with a plan that allowed individuals to apply for new gLTDs. In early 2012, they started to accept those applications but a system problem closed the application in May 2012. Just a month later, ICANN shared the list which revealed that 1,930 gLTDs were applied for. That list included significant names in technology like Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930), and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). Now that it’s about to close, ICANN is about to end their review process.
It’s reported that ICANN will allow add-ons in foreign languages like Chinese, as well as English bidder suffixes like .aetna, .cadillac, and .vegas. The new domains will debut in April although some new names may take longer to officially land on the internet. It’s expected they will introduce about twenty new names a week.
It costs a lot of money to apply for a new domain name. The interested business or individual must pay $5,000 upfront and $185,000 for evaluation. Furthermore, firms that are interested in maintaining their trademark suffix can pay an additional $15o per suffix.
This expansion should prove beneficial to companies who want to make the most out of protecting their brand and name. It allows businesses and organizations to remind consumers of their company. Moreover, global websites will feel less international if they use English characters as their domain.
