New TLDs

Last Days to Register for TLD Operator Webinar

The TLD Operator Webinar today announced that Ingrid Baele (Head of Operations, Philips) and Ken Nishida (Manager, Internet & Domain Strategies, Hitachi) are the latest speakers to be confirmed for next week's Webinar.

FTC Puts Burden Back on ICANN Concerning .Sucks Dilemma

Kieren McCarthy reporting in The Register writes: "The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has responded to questions over the legality of .sucks domain pricing with a three-page "I told you so" letter to domain name overseer ICANN.

2017, Year of Consolidation for Domain Name Market, AFNIC Study Suggests

AFNIC, the domain name registry for .rf (France), recently conducted a study of major trends for "Legacy gTLDs" or traditional TLDs such as .biz, .com, info, etc., as well as country code TLDs corresponding to territories such as .de (Germany), .fr (France), and .uk (United Kingdom). The new TLDs have note been included in this study since they are still something of a "new development", but will be included in the future, AFNIC says.

Vox Populi Registry Says “Enough” About .SUCKS Accusations

Vox Pop Registry, the .sucks TLD operator, broke its silence today and has sent a letter to ICANN and government agencies in response to the extortion accusations."There has been much said lately about Vox Pop Registry, the company bringing dotSucks names to the Internet, not all of it flattering, some of it outright false and defamatory," says John Berard, CEO of Vox Populi.

Another Letter Filed Against .sucks TLD for Extortion

Kevin Murphy reporting in DomainIncite: "ICANN's Business Constituency wants US and Canadian regulators to intervene to prevent Vox Populi Registry, which runs .sucks, 'extorting' businesses with its high sunrise fees. The BC wrote to ICANN, the US Federal Trade Commission and the Canadian Office for Consumer Affairs on Friday, saying .sucks has employed 'exploitive [sic] pricing and unfair marketing practices'."

A Look at the Current State of ccTLDs, Particularly in Europe

European ccTLDs have passed 67 million registrations in total at a net growth of 0.7% over the past quarter, according to the new DomainWire report by Council of European National Top level Domain Registries (CENTR).

ICANN Asks U.S. Federal Trade Commission Whether .SUCK is Violating Any Laws

Allen Grogan, ICANN's Chief Contract Compliance Officer, has written a blog post today concerning a formal letter it has received asking the agency to halt the rollout of .SUCKS, a new gTLD operated by Vox Populi Registry Inc. As it stands, a ruling against Vox Populi by ICANN could result in federal prosecution or other legal action, according to ICANN officials.

Dot-Sucks TLD Accused of Predatory, Exploitative and Coercive Practices

Kieren McCarthy reporting in the Register: "The intellectual property constituency (IPC) of domain overseer ICANN has formally asked the organization to halt the rollout of the controversial .sucks top-level domain, due to start on Monday."

Internet Grew by 4 Million Domains in 4Q 2014, Reaching 288 Million Worldwide

The fourth quarter of 2014 closed with a base of 288 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), an increase of four million domain names, or 1.3 percent over the third quarter of 2014, according to Verisign's latest Domain Name Industry Brief. Registrations have grown by 16.9 million, or 6.2 percent, year over year. Total country-code TLD (ccTLD) registrations were 134.0 million domain names, a 1.5 percent increase quarter over quarter, and an 8.7 percent increase year over year.

Google Wins .APP New gTLD Auction for $25 Million

Michael Berkens reporting in TheDomains.com: "The new gTLD .APP sold for $25 Million to Google today in a ICANN Last Resort Auction which I think is very good news for the new gTLD program in general. This is the highest price paid in an ICANN Last Resort Auction. It looks like Google was willing to pay over $30 Million based on the info published by ICANN..."

AFNIC: 2014 Was the Year of the Big Bang for nTLDs

AFNIC has released an article providing a global overview of TLDs in 2014 and some thoughts about market prospects in 2015 and 2016.

Symantec Chosen as Verification Agent for .bank and .insurance TLDs

fTLD Registry Services, LLC has announced an agreement with Symantec Corporation to provide verification services for the ".bank" and ".insurance" generic top-level domains. According to the report, Symantec will be responsible for adding a layer of protection to the new domains by verifying the eligibility of companies requesting domain names, making sure the person requesting the domain name is authorized by the company and ensuring the name requested by the company complies with fTLD's policies.

Total Domains Reach 280 Million Worldwide

The second quarter of 2014 closed with a base of 280 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs) -- an increase of four million domain names or 1.4 percent over the first quarter of 2014 -- according to Verisign in its latest issue Domain Name Industry Brief. Registrations have grown by 18.6 million, or 7.2 percent, year over year.

U.S. Court Overrules Attempt to Seize Iran’s, Syria’s and North Korea’s Domains

In a landmark ruling, a U.S. federal court has agreed with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) that the country code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs) are not property subject to attachment and thus overruled an attempt to seize Iran's, Syria's and North Korea's domains as part of a lawsuit against those countries' governments.

Afnic Reporting About Impact of New TLDs on Traditional TLDs

The October 2014 edition of the Afnic Industry Report on Domain Names is out with focus on the impact of the hundreds of new TLDs on "traditional" players. The October 2014 issue shows that gTLDs (.com, .biz., etc.) are impacted by the massive influx of new TLDs on the market whereas ccTLDs (.fr, .re, ...) are better resisting the newcomers.