The public has commented: Verisign’s .net registry contract should not be renewed in its currently proposed form. ICANN’s public comment period for the renewal closed yesterday and attracted 57 submissions, most of which either complained about Verisign being allowed to raise its prices or expressed fears about domains being seized by governments. The proposed contract [...] Continue reading →

The United Arab Emirates reckons its ccTLD saw growth of 20% last year, crossing a landmark in the first quarter this year. Local regulator Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) said that .ae grew by 46,000 domains in 2022 and broke through the 300,000 mark in Q1 2023. Not the largest TLD out there, [...] Continue reading →

ICANN has just penciled in a date for the next round of new gTLD applications for the first time, but it’s already upsetting some people who think it’s not aggressive enough. Org has released its first draft Implementation Plan for the next round, which would see the next round launch in May 2026, three years [...] Continue reading →

Three more new gTLDs from three different registries are set to launch this (northern hemisphere) summer. Identity Digital is gearing up to launch .watches in June, while newcomer Digity will launch .case in July and Intercap will launch .box in August, according to ICANN records. .watches was bought from luxury goods maker Richemont, which hadn’t [...] Continue reading →

A big bank and a big retailer have ditched their dot-brand gTLDs. Northwestern Mutual has told ICANN it no longer wishes to operate .mutual and .northwesternmutual, while iconic jewelry store operator Tiffany said it doesn’t want .tiffany any more. Neither gTLD has been used. The Northwestern registry pages contain a notice, apparently from 2017, about [...] Continue reading →

Right Of The Dot has published the list of domains it hopes to help auction off during the forthcoming NamesCon 2023 conference in Texas, and my highlight has to be woke.com. ROTD said in a press release that the headline lots of the auction, which seems to have 451 listed domains, are: qd.com, oi.com, gorilla.com, [...] Continue reading →

The customer suing Epik and its management over a fumbled $327,000 domain deal has asked a US court to prevent the company from selling off its assets and “absconding”. Matthew Adkisson has amended his fraud complaint, first filed in March, to demand an injunction: enjoining Defendants from transferring, liquidating, converting, encumbering, pledging, loaning, selling, [...] Continue reading →