Tag Archives: .london

London Joins Cities To Apply for gTLD

London has joined cities such as Berlin, Paris, New York, Cologne, Munich and Vienna in announcing they will apply for their city name as a generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) when ICANN opens its three month window and begins accepting applications on 12 January next year.

The City of London through London and Partners, the official promotional agency for London, is currently identifying the benefits the London gTLD could bring to the city and investigating how it could succeed.

There will also be consultation with the city and its boroughs, city services, brands and commercial organisations regarding the uses of second-level dot London domains. There will also be consultation and engagement with the community and potential customer groups.

In addition to enhancing the promotion of the capital, London & Partners is investigating what opportunities the ownership of the gTLD licence could bring in terms of harnessing commercial revenue streams and new job creation, whilst ensuring value for money.

Olympics Committee Social Media Guidelines For London 2012 Include Domain Names

There are not many organisations in the world that are as vociferous in their control of their trademarks as the International Olympic Committee. With the London Olympics scheduled for 2012, the IOC has issued social media guidelines for participants and other accredited persons.

The guidelines also refer to domain names that include “the word ‘Olympic’ or ‘Olympics’ or any similar words related thereto (or any foreign language equivalents thereof) are not allowed unless approved by the IOC beforehand.”

The IOC gives the example of[myname]olympic.com which would not be permitted while [myname].com/olympic would be allowed, but only during the period of the Olympic Games during which these Guidelines are applicable. The guidelines also note that “participants and other accredited persons may not create stand-alone Olympic-themed websites, application or any other feature to host coverage of the Olympic Games.”

On social media such as Twitter and Facebook, the control continues. The guidelines state “the IOC encourages participants and other accredited persons to post comments on social media platforms or websites and tweet during the Olympic Games, and it is entirely acceptable for a participant or any other accredited person to do a personal posting, blog or tweet. However, any such postings, blogs or tweets should be in a first-person, diarytype format and should not be in the role of a journalist – i.e. they must not report on competition or comment on the activities of other participants or accredited persons, or disclose any information which is confidential or private in relation to any other person or organisation. A tweet is regarded in this respect as a short blog and the same guidelines are in effect, again, in first-person, diary-type format.

“Postings, blogs and tweets should at all times conform to the Olympic spirit and fundamental principles of Olympism as contained in the Olympic Charter, be dignified and in good taste, and not contain vulgar or obscene words or images.”

For the guidelines in full, click here [PDF].