From .APP to .ZONE: things are happening

Now that an increasing number of new gTLDs are being launched online, ICANN made an infogram to explain how the rights of trademark owners are protected.

New gTLDs are progressively being implemented in the Internet Root Zone. In technical terms, we are talking about “delegation”. This is one of the many steps in the process that ICANN, the organisation in charge of supervising Internet domains, has developed when it was decided to create new gTLDs. Because it is of course fantastic to launch a project based on a philosophy (“There have to be more gTLDs in order to ensure diversification on the Internet, and to make domain names cheaper and affordable for everyone”), but the creation of new gTLDs is quite a challenging task. Technical and administrative formalities had to be created, like the requirements the would-be managers of the new gTLDs should meet in terms of technical and financial capacity.

And it seems that ICANN chose the adequate procedures. The new gTLDs are slowly but surely being added to the Internet Root Zone. The first Sunrise periods for the new gTLDs have begun, and some have already ended.

In order to help its customers make this transition to the new gTLDs easier, Combell had even created a special section, titled “From .APP to .ZONE”. And, as the saying goes, “The last will be first”: one of the new gTLDs that were delegated on 14 January 2014 is .ZONE. This domain extension is ideal for regions or e.g. police zones, to create virtual communities around common interests such as game.zone or book.zone, but also to delimit areas on the Internet, like kids.zone or xxx.zone.

The Sunrise period for the .ZONE gTLD began on 21 January and will end on 22 March. During this period, trademark owners will have the right to register a domain name that matches their brand name before the others. The Trademark Claims period will then start on 24 March, and end on 24 June 2014. After that, registration will be open to everyone.

For companies and trademark owners, all these periods may be slightly confusing. This is why ICANN made an infogram to clearly explain what are the different ways to protect their trademark rights. Do you have any questions about these new gTLDs? Or do you want to explore the new gTLDs in order to see which ones suit your needs best? On the “From .APP to .ZONE” page, the new gTLDs are neatly classified. And if you still have questions, our collaborators will be more than happy to help you.