ICANN finally launches WHOIS website beta

We recently learned that this “new website, whois.icann.org, will be a centralised location for all WHOIS information, making it easier to learn about WHOIS, raise accuracy issues about WHOIS information and how to contribute to WHOIS policies”.
 
WHOIS – the database of registrant contact information – is a core part of ICANN’s mission. It was created in 1982 by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as a directory service for ARPANET users to locate the appropriate individuals to enable the resolution of any technical problems with the online network. ICANN adapted the IETF WHOIS in 1998 to fulfil the Department of Commerce’s requirement for a “searchable database”. Since then, it has evolved and is used for locating domain name registrants for aftermarket sales and law enforcement.
 
ICANN has the power to enforce the WHOIS protocol through the contractual relationships it has with registries and registrars, who are mandated to follow WHOIS protocols. In addition, registries and registrars are required to comply with ICANN’s Consensus Policies, which include a WHOIS Data Reminder Policy.
 
Despite these agreements, many WHOIS records contain inaccurate or invalid information, and some country-code TLD registries provide a confusing WHOIS, or no WHOIS at all.
 
This new online resource is a preliminary step towards improving WHOIS. Community members have been invited to view the beta WHOIS website and provide feedback. The second phase of the site is expected to go live in January 2014, when a search function will be added.

Com Laude Client Manager, Phillipa Dyball (formerly Phillipa Pook), advocated for a one-stop WHOIS shop back in 2011. It looks like she may now get her wish. Along with discussions on privacy and proxy service accreditation standards, this fresh look at WHOIS is long overdue but very welcome nonetheless.

Com Laude offers corporate domain name management and online trademark protection for corporations worldwide. In addition, Com Laude offers the advice brand owners need in order to formulate a sharp strategy with regard to domain name registration in all the new gTLDs at the second level.

And…we’re off! First new gTLD strings are delegated into the internet’s root zone

History has been made! On 23 October 2013, ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) announced the first new gTLDs to be delegated into the internet’s “root zone”.

Akram Atallah, president of ICANN’s Generic Domains Division, proclaimed “It’s happening – the biggest change to the internet since its inception. In the weeks and months ahead, we will see new domain names coming online from all corners of the world, bringing people, communities and businesses together in ways we never imagined. It’s this type of innovation that will continue to drive our global society.”

This shakeup to the internet’s naming system is set to create opportunities to enhance competition and innovation on the web, through transforming how information is circulated, marketed and discovered online. VeriSign’s .com space is incredibly crowded, with many startups coining new words to name their company, just so they can acquire affordable .com real estate (e.g. Reddit, Spotify, Tumblr). These new gTLD extensions will transform the increasingly cramped domain name space, offering more variety and choice to all internet users.

The first delegated strings are:

You might notice that they are written in languages that do not use the Latin alphabet. That’s because ICANN decided to put Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) first, to make the internet more global. Before today, aside from a few ccTLDs, IDNs could only be registered at the second level.

Now that the strings are online, it is up to the associated registries to sign up ICANN 2013-compliant registrars, coordinate PR and marketing efforts, publish their Sunrise Policy and issue their 30-day Sunrise Notice Period. In other words, this is a big milestone, but there is much work to be done before consumers start using domain names in these new pieces of internet real estate. That’s not likely to happen until the beginning of 2014.

How will ICANN handle 1,400 more new gTLDs coming online over the next few years? If reported alleged early violations are anything to go by, they will be completely overwhelmed.

How will trademark owners handle 1,400 new gTLDs coming online in the next few years? With trepidation and consternation. While they are given a chance to register their brands before infringers, it comes at a cost. Nevan Chellan, Com Laude’s Special Projects Manager for these trademark Sunrise periods, reports that “it’s still early days for brand awareness, but we are seeing an uptick in monitoring activity.”

How will the public react? Many have said that we don’t need these new gTLDs. We didn’t need our Kindle or camera phone a few years ago either. Now, they’re virtually irreplaceable.

Com Laude offers corporate domain name management and online trademark protection for corporations worldwide. In addition, Com Laude offers the advice brand owners need in order to formulate a sharp strategy with regard to domain name registration in all the new gTLDs at the second level.

The rising popularity of the .tk (Tokelau) ccTLD 

Reading CENTR’s excellent May report into domain name statistics, I see that the total number of registrations across all Top Level Domains now stands at just over 258 million; 56% are gTLDs such as .com and 44% are ccTLDs. The largest ccTLD operator is no longer Germany or China or even the UK, but the tiny island of Tokelau (.tk). As we all know, this is a territory of New Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean consisting of three atolls with a combined land area of 10 km².

With nearly 17 million domains, the popularity of .tk has been fuelled through a unique business model. Anyone can register a .tk domain for free, renewable at the end of the year. However the owner of all free .tk domains is the registry. If you want to own the domain, appear in the whois or register for a longer period than a year, you must pay. Pricing is from $6.95 per year with a minimum two year registration period; although domains containing one, two or three characters or those with branded, generic or common words are considered premium and are priced higher. As a result, one sixth of the Tokelau economy consists of income from .tk domain names.

There does not seem to be any significant threat to brand owners posed by .tk domains. The registry has adopted the UDRP and there have been under a dozen complaints in seven years. We have not yet seen any major brand owners running an important site under a .tk domain but that day might yet come.

It is a remarkable achievement for the tiny .tk territory to command such strong popularity that it ranks second only to gTLD .com in terms of the volumes of domains registered, standing head and shoulders above all other ccTLD registries. I await their entry into the world of internet governance with a smile.

Com Laude offers corporate domain name management and online trademark protection for corporations worldwide. In addition, Com Laude offers the advice brand owners need in order to formulate a sharp strategy with regard to domain name registration in all the new gTLDs at the second level.

Domain name developments from Com Laude

Here is the spring edition of Com Laude's newsletter [PDF].

Topic's covered include: 

• New gTLDs: the road ahead
• ccTLD updates from Australia to the UK
• The URS and the Trademark Clearinghouse explained

Excerpts:

New gTLD overview

In April 2012, ICANN received 1930 applications for 1409 unique character strings, of which 116 were IDNs (in scripts other than ASCII such as Arabic or Cyrillic); 899 of these applications were for keywords (meaning descriptive terms) applied for by investors; 637 or 33% were for company or brand names; 255 or 13% were keywords applied for by brand owners (Walmart and Safeway both applied for.grocery); and 139 or 7% were for community or geographic terms (.lat; .paris).

Application for a 10 year licence to operate a gTLD registry, with a presumption of renewal, cost $185,000. Any incorporated organisation could apply for any string, except those which

appeared on ICANN’s list of reserved names and the ISO3166 A and B lists of country codes and protected geographic terms. There were no restrictions on industry leaders applying for

industry terms or investors seeking to run a registry targeted at a regulated sector. There was no public interest test. Each application (numbering in the region of 250 pages) is being evaluated on operational, financial and technical grounds and has to score 30 marks or more out of 41 to pass. Each applicant had to submit to background checks. A Letter of Credit to the value of three years of emergency registry operation was required as well as a contract with an Escrow Provider. Most applicants selected as their Registry Service Provider a proven

operator of gTLD or ccTLD systems. Where two or more applicants have applied for the same string, the mechanism of last resort if the applicants cannot find a solution amongst themselves is an ICANN sponsored winner-takes-all auction. The order in which applications are processed was decided by a Prioritisation Draw held in Los Angeles in December 2012:

IDN applications were batched first, then ASCII applications.

Trademark Clearinghouse update

On 26 March 2013, the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) finally began accepting trademark data for validation. The TMCH is a platform for cost effective rights protection in the new gTLD space, which will allow trademark owners to deposit their mark information into one centrally managed database for one fee. 

Trademarks successfully submitted to the TMCH can be used, subject to proof of use requirements, to participate in all new gTLD Sunrises (a 30 day period when trademark owners can apply to a registry to obtain a domain name matching its trademark) and the Trademark Claims service (a 90 day period following Sunrise where trademark owners are notified via the TMCH of any domain registrations in new gTLDs that match their marks).

The technical system is still being developed and is targeted to roll out by 1 July 2013. ICANN also revealed that they have agreed on a one off charge of $5,000 per gTLD for registries to

connect to the TMCH. This is significantly less than the figures that were suggested originally (ranging from $10-15,000), and is partly due to an ICANN subsidy of $400,000 which they

will pay to the TMCH to offset some of the potential cost for the registries. It still nets Deloitte and IBM a cool $7.5m for a service that is incomplete and six months late.

In addition, a $0.30 fee will be charged to registries per domain registration during the Sunrise and Claims periods.


Contact info@comlaude.com or +44 (0)20 7421 8250 for more information. 

Com Laude offers corporate domain name management and online trademark protection for corporations worldwide. In addition, Com Laude offers the advice brand owners need in order to formulate a sharp strategy with regard to domain name registration in all the new gTLDs at the second level.