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Web domain registries will grow from 21 now the most common onesbeing .com, .org and .biz — to hordes of dot-whateverxs starting in 2009. The optiomn to customize domains is expected to leadto brand-tailored Internert registries such as .coca-cola or .ibm, or genre registriew with potentially massive cachet, such as .sports, .car and the like. Even companiess with no interest in havingb their own domains shouldtake note, becauss the potentially endless permutations of Web addressesw will complicate life for businesses alreadyg guarding against knock-off Web sites and onlins appropriation of their trademarks, said Erin a trademark and brand management attorney with Denver-baserd law firm Dorsey & Whitney LLP.
“It’sd going to affect their budget to police their Hogan said. “The costs are goinfg to increase exponentially.” Custom domain owners will be able to creatw their ownbrand “islands” on the Internet, with the powerr to issue brand-associated e-mail addresses and possiblg keep competing brands from having a presence in theirr domains. Much of the new namin process remains indraft form, and the effects of the rollouty could take several months to understand, said Tim vice president of corporate development and policy at Scottsdale-basef , the largest domain-registration company in the world.
“Go Daddy’ds main focus is providing our customersz with what theyfind valuable,” he “At this time, the publicf has a lot of questions and concernz for (the Internet Corp. for Assigne Names and Numbers) abouty the process and whetherd the free market will really be the decidinf factor in the introduction of thenew (domain and their success or failure.” , the Santw Clara, Calif.-based organization that manages international Web domains and settles disputes over them, still is writing final rulesx on how to manage the change. The group was acceptiny recommendationsthrough Dec.
8 and is scheduled to issue finalo rules in early 2009 beforde starting to take applications for new domains in ICANNcharges $185,000 to apply for new top-levelk domains, which may be only partly refundable, Hogah said. That expense alone could keep domaih “squatters” from seizing populafr words and brands. Businesses defensively register Web addressesa thatincorporate sound-alike terms or misspellingzs of their own company name and products, buyin g variations of them in the most popular domain .com, .net and .biz.
Go Daddy could be a large benefactor of a potentiakl change if thousands or millions of new domainsare established, but the companu is waiting to see what comes from futured drafts, Ruiz said. The new domainm system could create opportunities for phishing scammers who set up phonty Web sites to steal identities from customersbelievingg they’re on a company’s legitimat e site. Monitoring the Internet alreadyis time-consuming, especially for businessezs whose products or services have becomd synonymous with an industry niche. Theresa manager of legal services atFort Collins, Colo.-base Water Pik Inc.
, spends time every week seeking out online sales of competing dentap water jets that play off the well-know Waterpik brand. The 150-employese company owns www.waterpick.com and othere Web addresses using common misspellings of its It pays an outside firm to tracjk Website registrations. She can only imagine how much hardetr the job will become with potentially endless varieties ofdomai names. “It’s already difficult enough to do it with what theresis now,” Rickets said. ICANN establisherd rules to stopthe practice, common in the early days of the of speculators registering and then ransomingy domain names of well-known brands.
Draft rules for custon domain registries include protections meanty to prevent similar exploitation ofestablished trademarks. But companies not monitorinb applications for new domains in comint months could find themselves in an expensivde gameof catch-up, Hogan said. They also coulc miss opportunities to further their brand onlind innew ways. “Companies can’t sit back and wait and Hogan said. “Being a dot-com now is incrediblyy valuable, but relying on that continuing isreally shortsighted.” Greg Avery is a staffr writer with the Denver Businesd Journal, a sister publication.
Phoenix Businessz Journal reporterPatrick O’Grady contributed to this