This week 2020Media attended the London ICANN consultation on new top level domain names (gTLDs) at RIBA. The event was well attended, with many people flying from all over Europe and beyond to have their say.

ICANN is seeking people’s views on the introduction of potentially hundreds of new top level domains (.eco, .city, etc) especially with regard to protecting brand names.

Many big brands have resisted the idea of new domains entirely, but having accepted they will happen, are now attempting to ‘reserve’ their names and trademarks so they can’t be registered by anyone apart from themselves.

In recent ccTLD launches, there’s been quite a high price put on domains in the so-called Sunrise period by the registries, and this is something the brands want to avoid.

On the other hand, trademarks exist in classes, they are not global (so Apple Records and Apple Computers can both have trademark on ‘Apple’, in their respective business areas). So if a new domain is launched, why should the man in the street not register apple.eco, providing they don’t start passing themselves off as an Ipod reseller.