Understanding the New Top Level Domains
EnSky and the New Top Level Domains- What is a Top Level Domain?
- New Top Level Domains
- The dot-Biz and dot-Info Land Rush
- Recommendations
- More Information
What is a Top Level Domain?
Simply put, a Top Level Domain (TLD) is the part of a domain name after the last dot. For example, the domain name for EnSky Corporation is ensky.com, therefore the TLD is ".com". There are two types of TLDs: "country code" TLDs (abbreviated ccTLD) like ".us" or ".uk", which are used to designate that a domain is specific to a certain country, and "generic" TLDs (abbreviated gTLD) like ".com" and ".org" which are supposed to separate domains by the type of organization they represent.
Historically, there were five gTLDs: dot-Com for commercial entities, dot-Edu for 4-year colleges, dot-Net for organizations providing network services (like ISPs), dot-Gov for U.S. government agencies, and dot-Mil for the U.S. military. Due to the massive increase in the number of Internet sites during the late 1990's, names in the existing gTLD space were quickly exhausted, leading to abuses such as cybersquatting (the practice of registering the names of well-known companies with the intent of reselling the domains at a profit).
Another symptom is certain ccTLDs being used as substitutes for generic top-level domain. The prime example is the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu which sold the rights to their ".tv" domain for fifty million dollars. Country code TLDs were never intended to be used as a substitute for generic top-level domains, no matter how desirable ".am" (Armenia) may be to your local talk radio station.
New Top Level Domains
In November, 2000 The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved the creation of seven new generic top level domains, following a contentious selection process. The seven new gTLDs are a mix of general purpose and very specialized suffixes.
These are the new top level domains:
| TLD | Purpose |
|---|---|
| .aero | Air Transport Industry |
| .biz | Businesses |
| .coop | Cooperatives |
| .info | Unrestricted Use |
| .museum | Museums |
| .name | For Registration by Individuals |
| .pro | Accountants, Lawyers, and Physicians |
Of the seven names, the ones most likely to be of general interest are dot-Biz and dot-Info. dot-Biz will be restricted to business entities (unlike dot-Com, putatively for commercial purposes, but the restriction was never enforced). dot-Info is completely unrestricted; anyone may register a dot-Info domain for any purpose.
The dot-Biz and dot-Info Land Rush
Neulevel, the company handling dot-Biz registrations, and Afilias, the company handling dot-Info registrations have each developed procedures designed to manage the "land rush" that is expected to occur when they start taking registrations.
For dot-Biz, Neulevel has established an Intellectual Property (IP) claim service that allows trademark holders to submit their marks to a database. Proposed dot-Biz registrations are matched against this database at the time of application. If there is a match, the prospective registrant is notified that an IP claim has been filed for that domain. Also, the trademark holder is notified that someone has tried to register a domain that matches their mark. The prospective registrant then has the option of canceling the registration, or continuing with the knowledge that there may be IP conflicts with their choice of domain name.
Filing an IP claim also gives one standing in the dot-Biz Start-up Trademark Opposition Policy (STOP) in the event of a domain name dispute. This policy carries a much lower burden of proof than the usual domain dispute resolution policy, giving trademark holders greater rights to invalidate potentially infringing dot-Biz registrations.
The IP claim service will only be in effect during the dot-Biz startup process. Once regular registration has begun, the IP claim database will no longer be in effect, and trademark holders will no longer have privileged status in the event of a domain dispute.
It's important to note that filing an IP claim does not initiate a dot-Biz domain registration. The IP claim period started May 21, 2001 and will last until July 9, 2001. Neulevel charges a $90.00 fee for each claim.
Afilias has taken a slightly different approach towards IP protection for the dot-Info registry. During the 30 day "Sunrise" period only intellectual property holders will be allowed to register the dot-Info domains that correspond to their marks. Registrants must provide proof that they own the marks they are trying to register. There is a 5 year minimum term for domains registered under the dot-Info Sunrise period. There will be a 15 day quiet period after the Sunrise period, after which dot-Info registrations will be opened to the public.
Recommendations
EnSky recommends taking a cautious approach with respect to the new dot-Biz and dot-Info top level domains. There have been some unscrupulous operators spamming people, promising to "pre-register" dot-Biz domains. Nobody has the ability to pre-register the new domains--all dot-Biz and dot-Info domains must go through the process outlined above during the startup periods. Once the dot-Biz and dot-Info registries are open to the general public, you will be able to register domains under dot-Info and dot-Biz from the same places you register dot-Com domains. The special procedures outlined above apply only during the startup phase.
We recommend consulting with a lawyer with regards to intellectual property concerns. Filing a dot-Biz IP claim does provide trademark holders with some protection, however, each IP claim costs $90.00. You would need to file an IP claim for each permutation of your trademark that might show up as a dot-Biz domain. For example, if EnSky filed a claim for "ensky", we would not be notified if someone tried to register "enskycorp.biz". As you can see, the cost of IP claims could quickly add up.
Similar caveats apply to the dot-Info Sunrise period: you could end up registering a large number of dot-Info domains, at significant expense. Once again, we recommend consulting a lawyer specializing in intellectual property.
For the foreseeable future, dot-Com will still be the best address for business, and remains the easiest way for your site to be found. Longer-term, as the number of gTLDs increase we predict that the importance of dot-Com will decrease. Consequently, it may be worth considering a dot-Biz or dot-Info address if a particular name is unavailable as a dot-Com. However, dot-Biz addresses are not scheduled to go live until October 1, 2001, and dot-Info addresses do not yet have a firm "go live" date yet, so you must consider your project's time frame before making a decision.
More Information
- ICANN
- http://www.icann.org/
- Neulevel (.biz)
- http://www.neulevel.com/
- Afilias (.info)
- http://www.afilias.com/
- FTC Alert regarding domain registration scams
- http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/domainalrt.htm
