With interesting .com addresses running out at the speed of sound, the agency that assigns internet addresses (ICANN) is loosening its rules and allowing suffixes named after brands, hobbies, political causes and just about anything else.
Under new guidelines, brands like Coca-Cola could register addresses ending in .coke, for example. Currently there are more than 300 suffixes are available, but only a handful like “.net” and “.com” are open for general use worldwide. Many of the available suffixes are country codes like .co (Columbia) or .ly (Libya). Hundreds of new suffixes could be established by late next year, with thousands in years to come.
The new fancy addresses will be spendy — $185,000 to apply and $25,000 a year to maintain one. Compare that to standard pricing for .coms (around $15 a year).
ICANN says it costs tens of millions of dollars to write the guidelines for suffixes, review applications and resolve any disputes. So, even with the fees, the organization thinks it will only break even. ICANN is also setting aside up to $2 million to help subsidize applications from developing countries.
ICANN has always intended to expand the number of available web suffixes. The expansion plan took 6 years to develop, due in part to concerns about trademark infringement, and concerns about obscene or hateful suffixes. ICANN has developed procedures for any party to object to applications for trademark, or other reasons.
Read more about the new branded web suffixes.
Tags: domain names, internet address, web suffix
