Domain Monitoring

By Dave Fazekas, Associate Partner, Consumer Products & Retail

With ICANN’s (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) decision to accept applications for new gTLDs starting May 30, 2011, online marketers will soon have a unique opportunity to reinforce their brand, company, or industry. Every company with an online presence needs to have a strategy for how they will respond to this opportunity.

gTLD stands for generic Top-Level Domain. This is what Internet users see as an Internet extension such as .com, .org, or .info. The gTLDs are part of the structure of the Internet’s domain name system. The gTLDs are also sometimes called labels, strings, or extensions.

Eight gTLDs predate the formal establishment of ICANN as an organization: .com, .edu, .gov, .int, .mil, .net, .org, and .arpa. ICANN held two previous application rounds, one in 2000 and another in 2003-2004, where several proposals were submitted and evaluated. The gTLDs approved during the 2000 round are: .aero, .biz, .coop, .info, .museum, .name, and .pro. Additional gTLDs approved during the 2003-2004 round are: .asia, .cat, .jobs, .mobi, .tel, and .travel.

This new round opens potential avenues for online marketers to enhance their brands, though application for a new gTLD does not guarantee it will be accepted. And, there are pros and cons that every online marketer should consider.

Pros (using Rosetta as an example):

1. Provides an opportunity to create a perceived online “island” of related sites. For example:

If .rosetta were purchased, each product brand could have its own domain (e.g., www.rm.rosetta, www.technology.rosetta) under the “Rosetta” umbrella, reinforcing the association between the brand and the company.

Similarly, each target segment could have its own domain to host targeted content, such as www.clients.rosetta or www.snowdays.rosetta.

If .agency were purchased, Rosetta could create a perception of industry dominance by only allowing their branded sites to use .agency. For example, Rosetta could change their site to www.rosetta.agency while not allowing other competitors to use the .agency gTLD.

2. Rosetta would have complete control over all domains ending with an owned gTLD.

Today, anybody can purchase a given .com domain when it is eligible for sale.

This could also prevent the likelihood of unauthorized sites pretending to be Rosetta, as they could not launch sites on the owned gTLD.

Cons:
1. Transition to a new gTLD could create user confusion. It is assumed that most companies intend to stay with .com as their preferred gTLD.

2. Purchasing a gTLD will require the company to assume the responsibilities of operating a domain name registry, which is a complicated and costly undertaking.

3. There is no known significant SEO advantage to having a brand- or company-specific gTLD if the brand is already included in the domain.

For clients not engaged in eCommerce, the cost of managing a gTLD outweighs the benefits due to a lower threat of fraudulent copiers. However, for eCommerce-driven companies the pros and cons make this an equally balanced decision. If deciding not to purchase a gTLD, companies can still work proactively to detect potential trademark infringements by hiring a domain monitoring company to monitor applications to the ICANN registration process. In the event that a trademark infringement is found, actions can be taken to block the application through ICANN. Another option is to purchase relevant gTLDs with the intent of not transitioning existing sites, but blocking others from using the domain.

Because of the complexities of domain strategy, the decision to purchase a gTLD should be made on a case-by-case basis. Rosetta advises that clients spend time now deciding whether a gTLD is the best option for them, before May arrives. Spring is (hopefully) around the corner!

Terms defined:
• Top-Level Domain (TLD) – the third part of a website’s domain name, coming after the dot. Rosetta’s TLD is “com.”
• generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) – TLDs intended for general use, such as .com, .info, and .biz. This is in contrast to country code TLDs specific to a single country (e.g., “co.uk”).
• Second-level domain name – the part of the domain name before the last dot. For the agency’s website, it would be “Rosetta” in www.rosetta.com.