Forget the vanity licence plates and the personalised URLs: what about owning your own top-level internet domain name, to put yourself on a par with the .coms and .govs? You’ll probably be able to apply for one by the end of this year – though it’ll cost you $185,000.
There is a serious side to the explosion in top-level domain (TLD) names that is about hit the internet. When anyone can pay up to create one – not to mention the myriad of new URLs that will suddenly become available – how on earth will companies protect their trademarks? And how will internet users find their way around a confusing virtual world in which www.coca.cola could be competing for attention with www.cola.coke?
Naming disputes under the existing system have to be litigated, or taken to a WIPO dispute resolution procedure. But when Icann opens up the new system (probably in December) it looks like becoming a free-for-all.
Two extra defences are being proposed to quell the tide of disputes, says Icann’s Paul Levins. One is a requirement for the operators of internet registries to demonstrate that they have procedures in place to protect the interests of rights holders. The other is a second forum to try to resolve disputes.
Will this be enough? Icann is clearly worried about what is going to happen at the end of this year – and quite rightly so. It has just delayed the new TLD system (again) as it keeps searching for the most effective approach.
It’s the sort of issue that companies with trademarks to protect should prepare for early. The introduction of a new internet naming system might sound like a highly technical and arcane issue, but for those caught off guard, it could turn out to be very messy.
