Intellectual Property Law

New gTLDs Delayed, Perhaps to Fall 2010 (Dog Bites Man)

By Marty Schwimmer

The ICANN Board passed a bunch of resolutions Friday morning in Seoul. Internalized domain names will be fast-tracked, new generic top level domains will be slow tracked. Applications for new gTLDs will only be accepted after (and depending upon) (1) more economic analysis as to whether new gTLDs are a good thing or not; (2) more analysis as to the cumulative effect of new IDNs and other implementations on the scalability of the DNS; (3) more consideration of trademark protection; and (4) the appointment of the evaluators of the gTLD application process. So expect a fourth version of the draft Applicant Guidebook. I'm predicting fall of 2010 now as the opening date for filing applications.

Full post as published by Trademark Blog on October 30, 2009 (boomark / email).