Finally - The First ICANN Application Round For '.Brand' Top Level Domain Names And The Role Of Luxembourg As A Domain Name Hub

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organisation in charge of assigning and coordinating Internet identifiers, has opened a first application round for the registration of new generic top level domains ("New gTLDs") on 12 January 2012. Domain names with a New gTLD are internet addresses ending with a name or brand (in case of a brand, New gTLDs are also referred to as ".brand" or "dot brand" gTLDs) in addition to the domain names with one of the 22 existing TLDs, such as .com, .org or .net (see also our previous newsletter on this topic).

The preliminary registration window closes on 29 March 2012 and all applications must be filed on 12 April 2012. The following evaluation process will take between 9 and 22 months depending on the problems raised by the application. The application is laid down in an Applicant Guide Book. After this first round, most probably other rounds will follow.

ICANN's New gTLD programme will allow undertakings, organisations and institutions to become the registrar of all the domain names ending on the New gTLD that they have applied for instead of applying themselves for a domain name with the ICANN accredited registrars for the existing gTLDs.

On the one hand, this means that undertakings, organisations and institutions will be in charge of the entire technical and operational management of running a gTLD, a crucial element that will be taken into account throughout the ICANN evaluation process alongside other elements such as the financial guarantees to pay the considerable fees related to a New gTLDs (i.a., an upfront evaluation fee of USD 185,000). Applicants can outsource a considerable part of these tasks to external experts, which can deliver assistance on specific points (e.g., in the field of IT or legal services) or assure turnkey solutions.

On the other hand, for applicants - and especially large brands - , owning a New gTDL offers several advantages and interesting opportunities. As they are the registrars for the domain names ending on their .brand, (e.g. LEGO for all domain names ending on .lego), they define their own registration policy for these names.

Furthermore, in principle none of these names can be "squatted" or acquired otherwise without the consent of the brand owner as the .brand is highly unlikely to be squatted or acquired by someone that has no legitimate rights on the New gTLD. Indeed, ICANN has foreseen safeguards during the evaluation process...