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Geographic gTLD Applications Taking A Battering

Objections to a number of applications for regional generic Top Level Domains have meant that a few have seemingly bitten the dust.First was the application for .swiss by Swiss International Airlines. The Swiss government objected to this application, and so the airline withdrew its application.Then there were a few South American countries that objected to applications for .patagonia by the outdoor company and .amazon by the online retailer, and both seem to have been rejected.For .patagaonia, Argentina and Chile protested while Brazil and Peru objected to .amazon. All of the countries objected to private companies having control of gTLDs and preventing individuals and organisations in these regions being able to register domains to benefit the regions.The protests against the three gTLD applications have been most prominent at Governmental Advisory Committee. For example, the Swiss government set out its reasons for objecting and said “there is no doubt that the adjective/noun ‘Swiss’ and the management of the corresponding gTLD belong to the Swiss community and should not be controlled by a single private entity.”The governments of Brazil and Peru in objecting to .amazon said the application by the online retailer “has not received support from the governments of the countries in which the Amazon region is located. Therefore, the Governments of Brazil and Peru (GAC Members), with full endorsement of Bolivia, Ecuador and Guyana (Amazonic non GAC members) and also of the Government of Argentina, would like to request that the gTLD application be included in the GAC early warning process.”The governments of Argentina and Chile gave similar reasons for their objections to .patagonia.In the case of both of .amazon and .patagonia, there was only one application for each. But in the case of .swiss, the Swiss government also applied through their Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications.