In what has been termed in some quarters as the biggest land grab in internet history, ICANN has published the list of the various entities that have applied for generic top-level domain names (gTLDs).
There are now 22 generic gTLDs on the internet’s address system run by ICANN, but that’s about to change. These are currently applications for the domains and at an event in London, ICANN said the first of the new gTLDs will be delegated in the first quarter of 2013.
Potential applicants will receive a time stamp for the approval process before 28 June.
The list is an interesting one – Fiat, for example, has applied for .ALFAROMEO and .FERRARI while curiously Atomic Pipe LLC has applied for .FAIL.
There were some obvious ones, too, Shell has applied for .SHELL, Intel has gone for .INTEL while Fedex has gone for .FEDEX and Sony went for .PLAYSTATION.
ICM Internet Registry has gone after the .SEX domain as well as the .ADULT and .PORN domains.
A group calling itself Charleston Road Registry Inc has gone after the .LOL domain that Google was rumoured to be pursuing. It also applied for the .GOOG and .GOOGLE domains. And .YOUTUBE, too. Coincidence?
Charleston has also gone for the .WEB and .TECH domain along with a handful of others.
And endearingly – or more likely for motives like profit – several applications have been made for .LOVE.
A company called Dot.Irish LLC has applied for the .IRISH domain. Surprisingly, despite the presence of cities like .ISTANBUL or .DUBAI on the list there was no application for .DUBLIN or .CORK. Neither was there an application for .IRELAND while regions like .CORSICA were represented.
“.IRELAND wouldn’t be permitted under the new TLD rules,” explained Michele Neylon of Blacknight Solutions.
“The market in Dublin and Cork is too small to support a TLD, which is why there were no applications for .CORK or .DUBLIN,” Neylon added.
Cloud business image via Shutterstock
