Domain Names

The Digital Decade – A Look Back

With 2019 coming to a close, we're not just saying goodbye to the past 365 days, we're also saying goodbye to an entire decade. As we bid farewell to the 2010s, we're taking this opportunity to look back and reflect on the digital decade as well as consider what the future might have in store for us all. The past ten years were a whirlwind of change, with new advances in technology exploding onto the market at a faster pace than ever before. more

10/2 & Innovations for Internationalized Domain Names

According to the 10/10 rule, it takes about a decade to take a product from initial idea to having a standard developed, and then another decade to reach mass market adoption. How can that second decade be reduced in the case of Internationalized Domain Names and their adoption by Internet users? The most effective way to speed up IDN mainstream adoption is learning from history. more

Thinking Carefully About New gTLD Objections: Legal Rights (4 of 4)

This last article on the four new gTLD objections will look at the Legal Rights Objection ("LRO"). While other articles in this series have touched on trademark concepts at certain points, issues from that area of the law predominate in LRO. Here we review the pertinent LRO-related trademark concepts, with which many readers likely will have some familiarity from working with domains and the UDRP. Still, the theme of the first three articles applies here: Potential objections are more involved and complicated than they may seem, and require careful thought if they are to be made. more

Emoji in Domain Names Bad Idea Warns ICANN Security Advisory Group

Coca-Cola received a fair amount of press for using a number of emoji domains for its 2015 marketing campaign in Puerto Rico. And other companies including Budweiser, Honda and Ray-Ban followed suit, registering various emoji domains to tap into the youth market. However, the increasing interest in their use has raised some questions and concerns. more

One Billion Internet Users

Last week ICANN took another very significant step forward in the expansion of the internet by approving the delegation of a number of Chinese script IDN ccTLDs. Although we have all heard statements that portray the introduction of IDN ccTLDs as being perhaps the single most important factor in the achievement of ICANN's "One World, One Internet" vision, we should take a moment to appreciate the true significance of this latest round of IDN ccTLD approvals. more

Overreaching Trademark Owners and the Misguided Better Right Theory of Domain Name Ownership

In Blogs devoted to news from the domain name industry and domainers, there is great glee in reporting about overreaching trademark owners. The reason for the glee, I think, is that it's a form of collective sigh from domainers and the domain industry that the UDRP is working as it should, which means that Panels are careful in their assessments of parties' rights. more

Nominations Open for 2024 Public Interest Registry (PIR) Board of Directors

Are you interested in helping guide the future of the Public Interest Registry (PIR), the non-profit operator of the .ORG, .NGO and .ONG domains? (and more) Or do you know of someone who would be a good candidate? If so, the Internet Society is seeking nominations for two positions on the PIR Board of Directors. The nomination deadline is 31 January 2024. more

Last Minute Surge of Opposition to VeriSign .NET Auto Renewal

The current .NET Registry Agreement between ICANN and VeriSign is due to expire on 30 June 2011. On April 11 2011 ICANN posted a proposed draft renewal agreement for public comment. Under the terms of the existing agreement, which contracted a 6 year term starting July 1 2005, renewal is automatic unless VeriSign commits some egregious breach of terms. more

Domain Name Registry and Registrar Separation Now Probably Going to Be a Policy Debate

Again on the subject of new Top-Level Domains (TLDs) ... One of the "issues" that concerned a number of people is the concept of "vertical separation". The basic idea is that domain name registries and registrars should be kept separate. While that is a wonderful Utopian ideal, the reality is that in the real world companies own other companies, people trade in stocks and shares etc., etc. So it's far from being a simple "cut and dried" situation. more

Asia Pac Digital Marketing & gTLD Strategy Congress to Be Held in Hong Kong on May 14-15

The Asia Pac Digital Marketing & gTLD Strategy Congress for first and prospective second round applicants will be held in Hong Kong and timed to take place in conjunction with the International Trademark Associations' (INTA) 136 Annual Conference at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) starting on May 10. more

Study Finds a Third of .Com Domains Completely Unused

How Many .com Domain Names Are Unused? Singapore Data Company recently conducted a study to answer this question. more

Global Domain Registrations Edge Closer to 300M: Verisign

The number of domain names registered around the world grew by 2.2 million, or 0.8 percent, to 296 million at the end of June according to the latest Domain Name Industry Brief from Verisign. With similar growth, the 300 million mark should be reached around the end of 2015. Worldwide registrations have grown by 16.4 million, or 5.9 percent, year over year. more

Trademarks Tango in Cyber Ballrooms

The global trademark laws have served the business community well during the last century. But is it possible that with the advent of ICANN gTLD, a new layer of speed and protection would complement the trademark holders to further establish their name identity presence and visibility in the complex marketplace? Although the trademark laws have served the business community very well during the last century, now with the advent of ICANN gTLD platform, it appears that it will provide an additional layer of speedy protection and increase the name identity visibility resulting in market domination via name identity. more

U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Holding Full Hearing on New TLDs

On Thursday, December 8, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will host a full committee hearing on "ICANN's Expansion of Top-Level Domains." According to the Committee's website, the hearing will "examine the merits and implications of this new program and ICANN's continuing efforts to address concerns raised by the Internet community." more

Why Do Chinese Enterprises Ignore the Internet?

Judging from the development of the Internet in the world, the popularity rate of domain names is one of the primary parameters to measure whether the Internet is well developed or not in a country. The popularity rate of domain names is 11 percent in North America and reaches as high as 12.5 percent in Europe, while in China, which has over 20 million enterprises, there are only more than 300,000 domain names under .CN and the total number of domain names is only 1.187 million, including a lot of governmental and individual websites. more