There will be another round of applications for new gTLDs if all goes as planned, but it won’t be until at least 2020.”Speaking at this week’s World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), taking place in Geneva, the head of ICANN’s global domains division has pointed to 2020 as the earliest realistic timeframe for the next round of new gTLD applications,” according to a report in World Trademark Review. “However, questions remain as to whether it will be a round or a permanent window.”Akram Atallah gave an update on the new gTLDs and how the more than 100 IDN new gTLDs that have come online “important because a majority of the new internet users coming online in the next few years will be from economies using non-Latin scripts and alphabets”.Opening the discussion, WTR reports Atallah gave an overview of the reviews being undertaken in advance of the next set of applications. The first is a ‘competition, trust and choice review’, with Atallah noting: “We want to ensure that we have achieved our consumer goals before we start the next round.” This review seeks to ascertain the extent to which new gTLDs have promoted competition, trust and choice, evaluate the effectiveness of the application and evaluation processes, and consider safeguards to mitigate issues that have arisen. As part of this, a global consumer survey is due in June, with new studies into the registrant domain name landscape and the competitive effects associated with the program to follow in September.He also updated on a separate independent review of the Trademark Clearinghouse and a root stability study as well as a GNSO policy process.To read the World Trademark Review report in full, see:
www.worldtrademarkreview.com/blog/Detail.aspx?g=530dc4ad-6bd7-4969-8a41-ec538340c852
Second Round of New gTLD Applications Not Likely Till At Least 2020
There will be another round of applications for new gTLDs if all goes as planned, but it won’t be until at least 2020.