ICANN to ramp domain name variations dramatically: Business headaches likely

[Electric Monk]

ICANN, the organization that issues domain names, has voted to “dramatically increase” the number of Internet address endings from the 22 today. In other words, domains such as .com, .org and .net can multiply into new monikers that can be created in any language or script.

(snip)

CNet News’ Stephen Shankland noted that ICANN’s move is going to be a trademark headache. Businesses are likely to structure their online presence in multiple ways, say IBM.think or Lenovo.think. Who exactly will get that “think” domain? And in how many scripts would you need to reserve “think”?

Domain names can end in almost anything ranging from a city, to term like .eco or .green and native scripts from around the world. How many of these terms do companies need to lock down?

(snip)

A company has multiple moving parts to consider. An enterprise like Boeing may have to reserve .airplane, .Dreamliner, .777 or any other product related terms. Meanwhile, other companies, say Coca Cola, will have to research domain names in specific scripts. A global brand like Coca Cola would probably want every country covered.

more
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/icann-to-ramp-domain-name-variations-dramatically-business-headaches-likely/50989

All yours for a mere $185,000 per domain name!


LBN thread on this that could use some more recs, imho http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4890074

[SheilaT]

1. I have a small business, and recently I went on to

one of those websites that allows you to get a domain name, and it strongly encourages you to also take up any reasonable variations thereof. I started to do that, and after about six or seven variations, it just seemed sort of stupid. I never did reserve a domain name, and I'm still not sure if I will, since I'm not certain about actually creating a website. I know that the conventional wisdom is that you have to, but most others in my field (hypnotherapy) that I've spoken to, do not seem to get any significant business that way. Or even any at all.