Applicants for new generic Top Level Domains have a new option for a significantly reduced application process, with even the possibility of brand owners having their Instra application fee waived. There are a number of pricing options, but the cheapest options depend on Instra managing the gTLD applicant’s existing domain name portfolio. Applicants for generic or geographic gTLDs will pay around a $35,000 application fee with further application and ongoing management fees detailed on the NewTLDs.com website . “Our initiative is to offer free or reduced-cost Instra application processes for those companies who wish to apply for a .Brand TLD through www.newtlds.com ,” explained Instra CEO Tony Lentino. “NewTLDs is our answer to the growing hype surrounding the new top-level domain movement. We are targeting .Brand TLDs in particular at the moment, as we strongly believe that international companies need to secure and protect their global online identities,” said Lentino. “Although current ICANN TLD application protocol indicates a significant brand protection strategy, it is still a risk that well-recognised company brands could become the target of parasitic enterprise from within the domain industry.” “The thrust of our marketing campaign for newtlds.com is simple,” says Lentino. “Our domain industry experts whilst offering an attractive application pricing package which is completely transparent will guide all applicants through the ICANN process but also to offer a unique level of corporate after-care service.” Instra plans to offer a pricing package that is extremely competitive and upfront, with their technical and industry experience is without equal. Instra through their NewTLDs.com plans to make their application process an intensely secure and actively client-focused package. ICANN commences taking applications from 12 January 2012 for new gTLDs for a three month period.

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 Interactive Advertising Bureau proved that they too are asleep at the wheel belatedly complaining to ICANN about its plan for new generic Top Level Domains, saying that the programme to assign hundreds of thousands of new domain names would cause incalculable financial damage to brand owners, including the hundreds of media brands in its membership. The complaint coming after the ICANN board approved its Applicant Guidebook in June at the Singapore meeting, also comes after America’s Association of National Advertisers woke up and complained about new gTLDs last week. While it subsequently came out that the ANA had complained about the new gTLD programme back in 2008, something the organisation seems to have forgotten in its complaints to ICANN, one has to wonder what they have been doing to more or less ignore the proposal for so long. “ICANN’s potentially momentous change seems to have been made in a top-down star chamber. There appears to have been no economic impact research, no full and open stakeholder discussions, and little concern for the delicate balance of the Internet ecosystem,” said Randall Rothenberg, CEO and President, IAB. “This could be disastrous for the media brand owners we represent and the brand owners with which they work. We hope that ICANN will reconsider both this ill-considered decision and the process by which it was reached.” The IAB is comprised of more than 500 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86 per cent of online advertising in the United States.

Esther Dyson, the founding chair of ICANN, has voiced her disapproval of new generic Top Level Domains, telling TechCrunch.TV she does not think new gTLDs will “add to the sum of human happiness.” Dyson opposes the new gTLDs for a number of reasons. She says we are not running out of domain names “but we are running out of space in people’s heads” and that while it is not a way for ICANN to make money, it is a “way for registries and registrars to make money.” Originally Dyson said that she thought it would be a good idea to have extra TLDs such as .FIN for financial services but now she says you do not need that, you just need a good brand name. In the interview Dyson says “there are huge trademark issues” and that “it is offensive. If I own a trademark now I have to go register it in 2800 different domains” and it will create lots of litigation. Dyson says that it will cost $185,000, but in reality it will cost a lot more to operate the registry behind the gTLD as well as the annual ICANN fee of $25,000. To see the Esther Dyson interview in full, go to techcrunch.com/2011/07/21/esther-dyson-top-level-domains/

With ICANN approving the Applicant Guidebook for new generic Top Level Domains and the window for applications opening on 12 January, the second .NXT conference in San Francisco in late August is focussing on giving potential applicants, registries and consultants the very latest information on the process and prepare for launch. The conference will be held Wednesday to Friday, 24-26 August at the San Francisco InterContinental. A full conference pass includes all sessions, exhibit hall access and lunches. It is also anticipated there will be great networking opportunities with hundreds of internet professionals and education to take your career to the next level. One of the key speakers is Chris Disspain, CEO of auDA, the .AU policy and regulatory body, member of the Internet Governance Forum’s main decision-making body, the Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) and as of the last ICANN meeting held in Singapore in June is now an ICANN Board member. Disspain will steer both the opening and closing sessions of the conference, pulling out critical details about the internet’s expansion from a series of experts, as well as summarising the outcomes of the conference itself on the last day. Other confirmed speakers include Shawn Gunnarson (Kirton & McConkie), Markus Kummer (ISOC), John Matson (Architelos), Rob Hall (Momentous.com) and Monte Cahn (co-founder and President of Right of the Dot). Registration costs $695. For more information and to register, go to dot-nxt.com .

The proliferation of registrars offering pre-registrations for new generic Top Level Domains has become alarming. There have been no approvals for new gTLDs, nor indeed have there even been any applications with the three month application window only opening on 12 January 2012. Blacknight Solutions , an Irish registrar, has raised this as an issue noting that many of the gTLDs being touted that may never even exist. Just because some would like to apply for a gTLD does not mean they will. There will be an extensive application process as well as the upfront application fee to ICANN of $185,000. After receiving several queries from customers, Blacknight said they discovered that registrants interested in acquiring domains in rumoured new gTLDs had become confused by these offers as they are not familiar with how the new TLD implementation might work. They note that this sort of speculative offer is the equivalent of taking a down payment on a concept car that has not been approved for production. It is a false promise. So just by putting your name down for pre-registration means nothing in your ability to get the domain should any new gTLD be approved. Even if approved, it is possible you might not be eligible to apply for your desired domain name. About the only thing you are likely to gain from pre-registration with a registrar you do not normally deal with is unwanted communications cluttering your email inbox! Any approved gTLD is going to have sunrise and landrush periods for interested registrants. So if you desire a domain name in a new gTLD, keep an eye out on what gTLDs are approved. Check out the eligibility and if you still want one, contact a registrar such as Europe Registry .

The American Bankers Association (ABA) and BITS, the technology policy division of The Financial Services Roundtable, are working to prepare the financial services industry for potential new financial generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) and have teamed with VeriSign, Inc. the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world, to serve as their exclusive registry operator. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) new gTLD initiative could result in an unprecedented number of new consumer domains.