–Dan Kelly, Attorney

Pot luck post today, but all related to the wonderful world of domain names:

  • The .com top-level domain (TLD) turned 25 this week.  The first .com?  Symbolics.com.  I find it deliciously ironic that, by all appearances, the domain now appears to be owned by a domainer.  (If I may be permitted to paraphrase a famous, fictional archaeologist, “That domain belongs in a museum!”)
  • There have been some developments on the “New gTLD” front.  (Previous explanatory post here.)  A chapter that opened only late last year is now closed:  ICANN voted last week to scuttle the “Expressions of Interest” program, which was intended to gauge initial interest in new gTLDs.  (One news report here.)  For the tidy sum of $55,000, an interested party could “express interest” in a particular string of characters for a new top-level domain.  Curiously, only these parties would then be allowed to participate in the first round of applications for new TLDs.  The program was fairly heavily criticized, and it is probably good that it is gone, although not all agree.
  • Despite the sinking of the EOI program, at least two entities have expressed their own interests in obtaining new gTLDs:  Canon and China, although China apparently intends to acquire “dot China” where China appears in Chinese characters.  The current country code TLD for China is .cn, which has lately become heavily restricted.  Canon is definitely out in front on this issue.  Will other large corporations be far behind?