There are fascinating ideas about how, when and more than everything: who is going to earn money from gTLDs?

I think back-end registry providers will earn money, some applicants will earn money too but my experience launching Eurid, the registry for .EU, reminded me one thing: these days, just before launching, until the (first) Sunrise period is launched. These days are special because the entire team is prepared, has been trained, and knows what to do.

So why were these days special and what does it have to do with earning money?
Well… it is very simple but I will let you guess a little more…

I remember these days when I was working on support to Registrants. Eurid was special because we could not launch until we had, at least, one accredited Registrar from every country in the European Union and we had to be able to provide support in most languages. Though.

Support to Registrants

I talk to a lot of applicants and I like to ask this question about support and my question is very basic: “what do you do before the Sunrise period when the phone starts to ring?”

I am not sure all applicants are considering this question. I think they should and here is why.

Domain names are such a boring thing that many brand owners don’t want to consider they are important until the last minute and guess what are the 2 questions your support is going to have to answer most of the time when the phone can’t stop ringing before the launching:

1 - “how do I register my domain name?”;
2 - “how do I protect my brand as a domain name?”.

When it becomes important for a brand owner, he calls the Registry, not necessarily his Registrar.

This is where the support to Registrants (at the Registry and at the Registrar) is going to work for the Trademark Clearinghouse. In the ICANN new gTLD program, new Registries and all existing Registrars are becoming the support of the Trademark Clearinghouse who’s going to take their client’s money. Good deal isn’t it? There should be more than a thousand of Accredited Registrars, Hundreds of Registries, and many IP providers to become the sales force of the Trademark Clearinghouse.

In the past, a Registrant did not have to go through this process. With new gTLDs, he is forced to if he wants to “protect” his brand and register in the Trademark Clearinghouse.

So Yes, the Trademark Clearinghouse is also a monopoly in the new gTLD program and I think it will be one of these organizations to earn A LOT of money.