Big businesses will shell out for custom Internet domain names in the next few years when hundreds of new suffixes become available to supplement .com, .gov, .org and others.
Expect domain names such as .dupont, .exxon mobil, .amex and .pepsico to flourish.
There will be lots of generic domain names, too. Look for .realtor, .food, .green, .wine, .nyc, .boston, .music, .hospital and others. They won’t come cheap: The application fee will be $185,000. That will cover legal costs, processing fees and work needed to ensure that an applicant is legitimate and technologically capable of running a separate domain.
To stave off disputes about what company or organization will get a prized domain name .airline, for instance ICANN will aim to award proposed names to logical recipients, such as giving the domain .realtor to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), even if several independent realty firms bid for the rights.
The NAR would then be empowered to manage the domain and allow interested real estate agents, for a fee, to sign up and be part of the domain. It’s expected that many companies in a given industry will want to be part of the custom domain to show customers and clients that they are legitimate industry players.
Cities may also see a custom domain name, such as .kansas city, as a revenue raiser, enabling officials to charge merchants a barbeque restaurant, for instance that want to be identified with the city for marketing purposes.
ICANN will hold a tight rein on the process. It may approve .restaurant, for instance, but not endless variations, such as .restaurants or .dining or .formal dining.
ICANN is expected to formally approve the initiative later this year and begin accepting proposals for custom domains in the first six months of next year. In some cases, ICANN will use an auction (after the application fee) to determine what company or organization may be awarded a favored domain name, such as, fourseasons for either the gourmet Four Seasons restaurant or the Four Seasons hotel chain. ICANN will retain the right to reject applications rather than get bogged down in endless disputes over names such as islam or einstein, or whether a proposed domain may be seen as offensive.
The organization is also setting up a dispute arbitration and appeal process in anticipation of hard to resolve domain right issues.
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