The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and the Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA) have added their names to the growing list of advertising associations to voice disapproval at ICANN’s proposal for new generic Top Level Domains. Arising from their deep slumber, seemingly oblivious to over five years of negotiations, the WFA have written to ICANN to express “deep concerns and strong reservations held by the global marketer community” that this decision will lead to significant legal and financial risks for brands in relation to the protection of domain names and monitoring of domain name abuse. Still rubbing their bleary eyes, WFA, who has around 60 of the biggest global marketers and 60 National Advertiser Associations on five continents as members, believes that the changes are likely to introduce confusion in the marketplace, increase the likelihood of “cybersquatting” and lead to trademark disputes. Brands could be forced to engage in costly defensive registrations of domain names in order to protect their trademarks and intellectual property, requiring significant diversions of internal resources on top of the costs already associated with buying gTLDs. In its letter, likely to be soon published on the ICANN website and currently available on the WFA website , WFA calls on ICANN to abandon its plan in its current form. The sentiment was echoed by Alain Heureux, President of the Brussels-based Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB Europe): “Allowing limitless domain endings opens the door to huge registration costs and significant potential damage to both publishers and advertisers. This decision jeopardizes both our brands’ integrity and the safety of consumers.” Also joining the queue in awaking from the five year deep slumber was the ACA. Not letting facts get in the way of a good story, the ACA says that a worst-case scenario would be the hijacking of a reputable brand name by a “criminal element” said Bob Reaume, the ACA’s vice-president of policy and research according to a report in Canada’s Marketing Magazine. “Virtually unlimited damage could ensue if criminals own sites with trustworthy domain names that appeal to children or the elderly or other vulnerable groups in society,” Reaume told Marketing Magazine, who obviously has not read the applicant guidebook. According to the report, Reaume considers an ideal outcome for the ACA would be for ICANN to postpone the start of the new gTLD programme. But one must ask Reaume what has ICANN been doing for the last five or more years. Reaume then suggests, in what would be comical if he was not being serious, “we’re merely asking to be consulted on this.”

Almost one in eight (12.3%) of .EU registrations in the second quarter of 1011 were now for multiyear registrations following the registry’s implementation of this option, EURid announced in their quarterly report. On the fifth birthday for .EU in April 2011, registrants were given the option for registering domain names for up to ten years. To promote multiyear registrations, EURid introduced a promotional offer (that was valid until 31 May) where registrars received a 50 per cent discount on all new .EU registrations of two, five and ten years. “It is one of our duties as the .EU registry to continually add value to the services we offer registrars. Extending the length of time .EU domain names can be registered for is one such service and I am encouraged by how well .EU multiyear registrations were received during the second quarter,” said Marc Van Wesemael, EURid’s General Manager. During the quarter, registrations for .EU domains decreased by 1.2 per cent to 3.35 million, making .EU the fifth largest ccTLD. The number one ccTLD in terms of active registrations is .DE (Germany), currently with 14.577 million registrations followed by .UK (United Kingdom – 9.559m), .NL (Netherlands – 4.641m) and .RU (Russia – 3.410m). The decrease in registrations came about due to every April a large number of registrations are not renewed, coinciding with the anniversary of .EU’s launch. In addition, two countries, Cyprus and Luxembourg, reported reduced volumes as some registrars did not renew large sections of their .EU portfolios. However year-on-year there was a 4.2 per cent increase in registration numbers. EURid’s full report for Q2 2011 is available for download at: link.eurid.eu/reports . To register your .EU domain name, check out Europe Registry here .

Following criticisms from two American advertising associations of the ICANN proposal for new generic Top Level Domains, two more advertising groups, one on each side of the Atlantic, have come out voicing their criticisms. In the US, three groups – the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), and most recently the American Association of Advertising Agencies(4A) – have come out strongly against the plan. And in the UK the Direct Marketing Association has added its voice the chorus. However it would appear they have left it too late. Chris Combemale, executive director of the DMA UK, said that “the creation of new internet real estate will come at a cost to businesses that could outweigh any potential benefits.” “Creating a tranche of new internet domain names will be extremely costly to businesses. As well as the associated costs of registering new domain names and spending money to attract customers to multiple domains, businesses face the legal and financial headache of having to contend with cybersquatters grabbing specific domains. “Customised domain names won’t offer brands any enhanced marketing possibilities because consumers can easily search for specific information with the current domain name system.” Combemale adds: “Companies are already hard pressed to find cost savings in these tough trading times; adding a further financial burden that won’t reap any commercial benefits cannot be justified.” DMA UK say they will respond formerly to ICANN with a request to revise or withdraw its new rules. Meanwhile back in the US, 4A complained about the new gTLD plans saying that “if adopted [new gTLDs] would allow applicants to claim virtually any word, generic or branded as a domain name, resulting in confusion of brand identity and dilution of brand history and value.” “We are very disappointed in the position taken by ICANN concerning the assignment and sale of new domain names,” said 4A’s President and CEO Nancy Hill. “These changes would cost brand owners billions of dollars, severely, if not irreparably, diluting the value of trusted and respected brand names, as well as abrogate the good work 4A’s members have done on behalf of their clients.” “All marketers share the goal of a stable global marketplace, served by an Internet system that consumers can rely on to accurately reflect the quality and history of a product or service. ICANN’s actions would remove that trust and place consumers at a significant disadvantage in making marketplace choices and decisions.” The complaints by the advertisers have been aired many times and dealt with by ICANN. ICANN has been consulting with intellectual property groups, people involved in domain names including potential applicants, lawyers and anyone else who is interested for over five years, yet the American, and now British, advertising groups have seemingly only just realised the significance of the changes. Not only that, as Rod Beckstrom, ICANN’s CEO and President, pointed out in a letter to the ANA in 2008 the ANA had complained to ICANN about new gTLDs, something seemingly overlooked by the ANA in their complaints. With ICANN board having approved the applicant guidebook at its Singapore meeting in June, and having announced a three month application window commencing 12 January, it would appear that advertising associations on both sides of the Atlantic have been asleep at the wheel.

The year’s biggest ccTLD sale easily topped the Domain Name Journal list of top reported sales for the week to 24 July, with aktien.de (stocks or shares in German) selling for €500,000 ($725,000) through Sedo and the third biggest sale for the year to date behind social.com, which sold for $2.6m, and domainname.com ($1 million). Sedo was responsible for the sale of aktien.de, along with the second-placed onlinedegree.com ($120,000), the only other sale making it to six fugures, along with 14 of the top 23 sales (there was a four-way tie for 20th spot). According to DNJ, DSAA.com was bought by Disney for $50,000 in a private transaction, undoubtedly for a new digital video brand called Disney Studio All Access. .COM domains accounted for 16 of the top 23 sales, there were six ccTLD sales and the one remaining gTLD sale was for a .NET domain. To check out the Domain Name Journal list of top reported sales in full, see: dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2011/20110803.htm

Vietnamese internet users in rural areas have taken to the Vietnamese language internationalised domain name, making up a large proportion of the 320,000 Vietnamese language domains that have been registered since 28 April. “Internet users in rural areas were especially fond of using Vietnamese-language domain names since they used Vietnamese almost exclusively on the internet. The meaning of Vietnamese domain names was also clearer and more understandable to Vietnamese users,” said Tran Minh Tan, deputy director of the VNNIC, part of the Ministry of Information and Communications. “The Vietnamese IDNs represent a concerted effort on the part of VNNIC and Dot VN to reach the whole of the Vietnamese population and not just those that reside in major cities. While many online services have focused almost exclusively on urban users in major cities, those users represent but a small fraction of the over 89 million people that make up the population of Vietnam.” said Dot VN President Lee Johnson. “We hope to be a leader in the development of services for the as yet underserved majority of existing and potential internet users. The Vietnamese IDN resonates with the whole of Vietnamese Society in a fundamental way and engages Vietnamese users in their native speech in a way that is far superior to standard Vietnamese domain names. We believe that it is this connection that will allow us to reach countless millions of new Vietnamese users with a depth and scope not yet achieved through the power of their native language. As VNNIC’s partner in the IDN project we will continue to dedicate ourselves to reaching all corners of Vietnam from the cities to the fields with the very best products and services.” Up until early this year, there were strict limitations on the allocation of .VN domain names. But on 10 January the regulations changed. To assist on their uptake, .VN domains are allocated to Vietnamese and foreign organisations and individuals on a first-come, first-served basis according to VNS report. The allocation of free .VN domains commenced on 28 April. To register your .VN domain name, check out Europe Registry here , although more information on .VN domains is available from dotVN here .

As of 22 August, the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center commenced providing .domain name dispute resolution services for both QA and قطر. (Qatar) in accordance with the Qatar Domains Registry Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (“Policy”) and Rules for Qatar Domains Registry Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (“ Rules ”), and WIPO Supplemental Rules for Qatar Domains Registry Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (“Supplemental Rules”). Qatar Domains Registry provides for registration of domain names which utilize the two-letter country code in Latin characters, i.e., .QA, as well as the قطر. IDN ccTLD in Arabic script. قطر. results from ICANN’s IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process which was designed to introduce into the Domain Name System Internet extensions (top-level domains) corresponding to a meaningful representation of a country or territory name in non-Latin (or non-ASCII) script. The Policy, Rules and Supplemental Rules are applicable to disputed domain name registrations within both the Latin script (.QA) and Arabic script IDN (قطر.) ccTLD spaces. The Policy, Rules and Supplemental Rules for .QA and قطر. also feature upgrades based on the WIPO-proposed paperless Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) model, the latter in effect at WIPO since December 2009. This includes paperless filings by parties while retaining the safeguard of hardcopy notification by the WIPO Center. In addition to .QA and قطر. (Qatar), the Center also provides domain name dispute resolution services for both .AE and امارات. (United Arab Emirates).

It appears likely the Saudi Arabian Oil Company snapped up the top reported sale for the week to 17 July according to the Domain Name Journal weekly sales chart. The domain name topping the chart was sadara.com, sold for $71,000 through Sedo. It was a quiet week for big sales with the second biggest sale being nursepractitioner.com, selling for $36,300. Overall there were 12 .COM sales in the top 20 while Sedo also accounted 12 of the top 20 sales. There were also five ccTLD sales in the top 20. To see the Domain Name Journal list of top reported sales in full, go to: dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2011/20110727.htm