As the participation in the community continues to expand to all parts of the world, ICANN anticipates adjusting the model to include other areas such as Latin America/Caribbean Islands, South America, Africa and the Middle East.
The event in Seoul was the largest gathering to date with more than 68 participants representing 26 registrars and six registries. And, of the 56 registrar participants, 54% reported that they had not previously attended an ICANN meeting. Also, for the first time since the inception of the gatherings, presentation materials were provided in Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Additionally, clean and red-lined versions of the RAA and proposed changes were provided in the same languages.
Topics presented at the gathering included a summary of the outcomes of the recent Paris meeting, proposed amendments to the RAA, protection of registrants (registrar data escrow/interim terminated registrar transition plan and registry failover), IDNs, new gTLDs, compliance/UDRP, GNSO policy items, IPv4/IPv6, and recent Board actions around the Add Grace Period (AGP).
The event was supported through generous contributions from DotAsia, Afilias and NeuStar.
For further information about this event, please contact Craig Schwartz or Tim Cole.
Source : ICANN
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As the time nears for ICANN, the internet’s technical oversight body, to publish draft guidelines (request for proposals) in the fourth quarter of 2008 for the gTLD applications, the chorus of criticism against the new domains is getting louder, with some saying it is merely a way for the global domain-name body to make money.
“ICANN to my mind has not effectively answered the question,” J. Scott Evans, former chair of ICANN’s Intellectual Property Constituency and senior legal advisor for Yahoo, said during an International Trademark Association webcast Thursday. “I think ICANN sees itself as a market builder,” at least some on the ICANN board do, he added, so they are in favour of opening up and building a competitive marketplace on the web.
“If that’s the view you take, then the more [gTLDs], the merrier. If you’re not, and you’re a trademark owner, all you see is a greater investment you have to take to these entities to protect your trademark from abuse,” Evans added.
Evans likened the issue to a ‘land grab’, where real-estate is so scarce, it leads to a rush on that land that makes it more valuable. But not everybody wins in that process, he said.
“The only thing we see here is more investment that we make initially up front to the owners and operators of these particular TLDs,” and more money spent by trademark owners to defend their brands against “nefarious uses.”
ICANN spokesman Jason Keenan told Intellectual Property Watch on Friday that it is important to understand that the policy process works from the bottom up, based on ideas from the broader internet community.
“The wider community that takes part in the ICANN process has said there should be the ability to apply for new gTLDs,” Keenan said when asked about the exact need for the gTLDs. “Those discussions have driven the policy development, and led to the work to establish a process for people to apply for new generic top-level domains.”
Torsten Bettinger, a panellist for the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Arbitration and Mediation Centre, said the new gTLDs will give end users more choice about the nature of their presence on the internet. Users may be able to use domain names in the language of their choice. There is also demand for additional top-level domains as a business opportunity (for example, Microsoft could have .msn, and Google could have .google).
“There will be no predefined number of gTLDs and the predictions are, there will already be hundreds of new gTLDs,” in the first round of applications, Bettinger told the 41st Congress of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI) in Boston last week.
Since ICANN approved the new domain names in June, trademark owners have cited costs, confusion and cybersquatting as problems sure to skyrocket once the new gTLDs go live. Brand owners also say internet users are already frustrated over getting misdirected by cybersquatters who sometimes infect users’ computers with viruses and software to steal personal information - an activity many say surely will only increase.
“These harmful practices will now get worse,” Claudio Di Gangi, INTA’s manager for external relations, internet and the judiciary, wrote in an editorial last week.
“In the coming years, hundreds or thousands of new domain name suffixes could be approved, which will confuse consumers and raise new challenges for companies whose brands are already being exploited in the existing Internet domain space,” Di Gangi wrote. “Opening the floodgates of new website suffixes may certainly be profitable for ICANN, but brand owners, already suffering from the proliferation of trademark infringement on the Internet, will face increasing burdens.”
Experts say there is more cybersquatting on the horizon in the form of domain-name tasting - where people register a domain name and place pay-per-click ads on it for five days to gauge whether the names generate money.
Other activities likely to increase are: kiting (automatically registering, dropping and re-reregistering the domains so as to not have to pay for them); front-running (the practice of monitoring and stealing someone’s domain name search queries and registering the domain name before the original person can register it; and sniping (snatching up a domain name from the prior registrant the second the registration expires).
“There is a lot of money at stake in cybersquatting,” and also a lot of money to be lost by individuals and businesses, Mark Partridge, a Chicago copyright and trademark lawyer, told AIPPI.
ICANN Auction Details
ICANN has not yet printed new guidelines for new gTLD applicants, and the cost of the application fees is still just speculation ($100,000 to $150,000 is the latest estimate, although some have been as high as $250,000). Keenan said both the application fees and guidelines are still being developed. The request for proposals, subject to community input, are scheduled to be released this November, around ICANN’s meeting in Egypt.
But ICANN has released other details about how the process would work.
The organisation last month published a paper making the economic case for auctions as a tie-breaking mechanism in the case of resolving disputes over identical or confusingly similar applications for new gTLDs.
The paper says the auctions will increase efficiency through a transparent, objective and scalable process. It does not, however, address specific details on how they would resolve contentions among applicants for new TLD strings. ICANN is working with a design consultant on this issue.
“While auctions are not perfectly aligned with ICANN’s objectives, alternative allocation mechanisms such as comparative evaluations and lotteries inherently have much more severe limitations and defects, as evidenced by the historical record and by the abandonment of these alternatives in other communications areas,” the paper states.
ICANN on Thursday posted a summary of the 18 comments received on the paper during the month-long comment period, which ended on 7 September: 10 of the 18 were from individuals associated with potential gTLD applications or registries.
Several commenters noted that the paper does not describe a proposed auction model or outline the use of funds from the potential auction of gTLD strings. ICANN says these topics will be the subject of separate documents to be posted along with a proposed budget for the new gTLD process prior to the Cairo meeting.
Commenters also were concerned that the use of auctions would not meet the needs of community-based applicants or smaller TLDs intended for the public interest. Several acknowledged that the auction issue was complicated, and would be unlikely to satisfy everyone in the ICANN community.
“No final decision has been made,” Keenan said.
Meanwhile, ICANN announced Friday that as the result of the de-accreditation of registrar Esoftwiz Inc., accredited registrars are being sought to take over the 1,200 or so gTLD names managed by that company, which include registrations in the .com and .net registries. Those interested need to submit a written letter of interest to ICANN by 19 September.
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I often see people selling geo domains and advertising that there are multiple cities of the same name. A name like Springfield.com, for example, could refer to many U.S. cities. But you should be careful about valuing a domain based on the total population of these cities.
Consider this example. There are 2 Bastrop cities in the U.S. in Wikipedia. These cities have populations of 13,000 (Louisiana) and about 10,000 (Texas). If you plan to develop Bastrop.com into a directory for either city, it would be foolish to value the domains be adding up both populations (23,000). After all, you can only address one of these cities with your web site.
Of course this assumes you plan to develop the domain. From a resale perspective, the fact that there are two cities with this name increases your odds of a sale. However, you can still expect the person buying the domain from you to look at one city or the other, limiting the total addressable population to 13,000.
Source : Domain Name Wire
URL : http://domainnamewire.com/2008/09/10/how-to-value-city-domain-names/
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"Sedo is widely recognized for consistently delivering high quality domains through its signature GreatDomains online auctions, "said Jeremiah Johnston, Chief Operating Officer of Sedo. "We have seen increased participation each month, a higher percentage of domains sold and higher average sale prices, and this latest auction will build on our success. "
Sedo is hosting its GreatDomains auction instead of a live auction at the Targeted T.R.A.F.F.I.C Conference in New York, in order to maintain the momentum of its high-performing online auctions.
In addition, the leading online domain marketplace recently brokered six-figure domain name sales in the two character and .org spaces, including LI.com for $500K, OD.com for $220K, OV.com for $200K and Coffee.org for $100K.
GreatDomains' all time, top-selling domain names include villas.com for $478,000, invest.com for $1,015,000 and tees.com for $252,500.
"Contrary to the speculation that Sedo would be one of the auctioneers at the upcoming TRAFFIC Conference, we've decided to focus our resources on our high-performing online auctions," Johnston continued.
To participate in Sedo's GreatDomains Auction, buyers and sellers can register at www.greatdomains.com.
About Sedo
Sedo, an acronym for "Search Engine for Domain Offers," is the leading online marketplace for buying and selling domain names and websites. Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Sedo has assembled the world's largest database of domain names for sale, with more than 14 million listings. The success of Sedo's model has attracted a global membership base of more than 790,000 domain professionals. Sedo is majority-owned by AdLINK Group (ISIN DE0005490155 / German WKN: 549015), which is part of the German United Internet AG (ISIN DE0005089031/ WKN 508903). Sedo offers regional versions of its site for the UK (Sedo.co.uk), France (Sedo.fr), Germany (Sedo.de), and Spain (Sedo.com).
For additional information, please visit www.sedo.com.
SOURCE: Sedo , marketwatch.com
]]>Spend much time on domain name forums or at trade shows and you’ll hear a lot of conspiracy theories: auction tampering, domain renewal notices “lost” on purpose, etc.
I hear more than my fair share. Every week I get a few tips from people that turn out to be completely false. Sometimes I spend a couple hours investigating; other times I can dismiss them within a few minutes.
For example, there was the person that commented on Domain Name Wire that GoDaddy was taking longer than usual to appraise his domain name because the company was trying to find a way to steal his very valuable domain name. That domain name was probably worth $10.
Then there was the person who swore that Network Solutions was shill bidding on NameJet auctions for its expired domains. He showed me the same person who kept jumping in auctions at the last minute to bid. There was only one problem with his theory: a little snooping showed that the bidder was Frank Schilling.
The big companies face the brunt of conspiracy theories and GoDaddy gets more than its fair share. Look, GoDaddy is far from perfect but that doesn’t mean it’s conniving to steal from you. A lot of times I’ll hear from non-domainers who find Domain Name Wire through a search and are upset that GoDaddy “stole” their domain and sold it to someone else.
Psst. It’s called an expiration date.
By no means am I suggesting you stop sending these conspiracy theories and shenanigans to me. On the contrary, keep ‘em coming. They keep me busy. And sometimes we hit pay dirt!
Source : Domain Name Wire
URL : http://domainnamewire.com/2008/09/12/domain-name-conspiracy-theories/
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市场竞争是一场没有硝烟的战争，既是对企业产品质量、技术力量的检验，也是对企业营销手段、品牌影响的考察，唯有强者才能胜出。实际上，现代市场竞争就是一场品牌统治权的争夺战，拥有市场的最有效办法就是拥有占统治地位的品牌。通用网址等网络营销工具，不仅能直接促进企业销售业绩，同时还能树立企业品牌，激发大众消费意愿，达到事半功倍的效果。
这一点上，山东营销界的几家广告公司可谓把握先机：济南龙典影视广告有限公司注册了“山东广告公司”、“山东电视广告”等通用网址，济南领航广告注册了“济南广告”，把握住了行业制高点，也因此赢得了许多客户的主动询问。同样的，山东竞天广告有限公司作为山东广告圈的领先公司，早在2004年就把“竞天广告”的通用网址收归名下，把浏览器地址栏中“竞天广告”这一网络名片牢牢把握手中。
作为一种新兴的网络地址资源，通用网址采用全中文来标识企业网站，与企业的常用名称、商标等有效统一，容易记忆。用户只需要在浏览器地址栏直接输入中文即可轻松直达，实现地址栏直达网站或网站深层页面的便捷访问。深受用户欢迎的通用网址这一地址栏起源，恰好为企业树立互联网品牌提供了难得的载体，成为企业实现营销、品牌建设一体化的利器。
中国互联网协会网络营销工作委员会副秘书长范锋表示，互联网已经成为现代社会信息交流、交换，企业广告与宣传的一种最重要的手段，成为企业提升品牌的重要“介质”。实际上，通用网址资源不可再生的稀缺性使其备受瞩目，在互联网平台上对企业品牌建设中发挥着不可或缺的重要作用。
通用网址是互联网时代企业的中文网络标识，是互联网地址资源管理机构——中国互联网络信息中心（CNNIC）推出的新一代中文上网技术。无论是注册管理还是用户服务、权益保障等方面，通用网址都具有不可比拟的权威性，这也是众多中小企业信赖、使用通用网址扩大品牌影响力的关键因素。
搜索引擎营销专家柳焕斌表示，一种好的网络品牌形象可以感染很多互联网用户成为企业的潜在客户，最终则是很好的促进了企业的销售业绩。曲姿减肥的案例，就很好的印证了通用网址在品牌建设上的强大影响力。
曲姿减肥连锁机构是济南市场的领先品牌，以磁针减肥、耳穴减肥为特色。但曲姿不满足于，通过注册“曲姿”、“曲姿减肥”等品牌名称词的通用网址，和“耳穴减肥”、“耳穴美容”、“磁针减肥”等行业通用词的通用网址，扩大了互联网宣传，同时也直接接到许多对耳穴减肥或磁针减肥等绿色减肥形式有一定了解和强烈兴趣的爱美女性们的问询电话。正可谓品牌保护和品牌宣传，两手抓，两手都要硬。
范锋还谈到，我国中小企业在网络营销方面的道路任重而道远，选择权威地址资源开展互联网品牌建设，是对企业未来成长的远见性投资。利用通用网址，既能实现企业有效的营销功能，又能达到塑造品牌的功效，实乃一举两得。在瞬息万变的网上世界之中，只有掌握住好网络营销工具，才能建立起永续经营的基石。
来源：eNet硅谷动力
原文：http://www.enet.com.cn/article/2008/0411/A20080411220677.shtml
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CNNIC表示会重视保护CN域名注册用户的合法权益，尊重“先申请先注册”的注册原则。对于符合国家法律法规的域名注册，不会进行强行删除。
以下为CNNIC声明全文：
一、CNNIC重视保护CN域名注册用户的合法权益，尊重“先申请先注册”的注册原则。对于符合国家法律法规的域名注册，不会进行强行删除。在此次奥运开幕前注册的与我国运动员姓名相同的域名，我中心没有也不会因此原因予以删除。同时，我中心也建立了域名争议解决机制，对于认为已注册域名侵犯了自身民事权益的，可以通过我中心授权的域名争议解决中心进行裁定。我中心不介入有关民事权益的裁定。
二、对于此次奥运会开幕之后，特别是奥运冠军产生之后，注册与中国奥运冠军运动员姓名相同的域名，我中心根据国家体育总局的要求予以严格审核。国家体育总局在此次北京奥运会开幕前向我中心发函，提出申请，并要求当时尚未注册的本届奥运会冠军姓名，如果有提出注册申请，应当获得国家体育总局的同意。在国家体育总局书面申请提出之日起，当时所有未注册的奥运会冠军域名即已进入严格审核状态。未经国家体育总局同意的申请，在人工审核过程中会予以拒绝，之后会对注册用户进行退费。wuminxia.cn是在奥运开幕之后的8月10日申请注册的，即属于此类情况。
三、据了解，为了在互联网上更好的表现冠军运动员的风貌，国家体育总局在注册这批运动员域名后，将计划逐步把运动员域名作为冠军运动员的官方网站标识。我中心对体育总局的应用表示支持，同时呼吁已经注册与冠军姓名相同域名的注册者，可以将其捐赠给国家体育总局，用于中国奥运冠军的网络标识。
来源：腾讯体育、赛迪网
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国际交易第三方平台，如果您是与海外公司或个人交易域名，那么这个是不错的选择。Escrow.com是美国一个比较大的中介担保公司，通过其平台可以中介很多交易，大到飞机，小到域名，其手续费是按梯度收取，最低25美金，5000美金以内手续费是6.3%，并且服务还分等级，有标准和高级两种。如果你是卖家，申请提现时候还需要支付额外的40美金的汇款费，汇款到我们国内银行后，还要被扣除15美金左右的费用（我至今扔未明白这个是什么费用，但是每次都是要被扣掉的），大额交易可以采用。
优点：知名度和信誉度非常高，其服务对象辐射全球，是国际间交易的理想选择。
缺点：域名交易不够不专业，包括域名是否已经成功转移往往会误判，如果您英语水平很差，表达能力有限，那碰到问题就只能干瞪眼了。
全球最大域名交易服务商，国内的域名卖家应该对它已经非常熟悉了，其手续费是3%，最低手续费50美金（CN域名最低手续费为150美金），但是却需要发邮件申请后，他们才会生成一个交易，其系统不象Escrow.com那样方便。
优点：专业，知名度高
缺点：交易周期较长，需要先把域名管理者邮箱改成SEDO指定的邮箱再进行交易，而且需要发邮件申请后，他们再生成一个交易，其系统不象Escrow.com那样方便。
国内比较常用的中介平台，其拥有双语版系统，集成了Escrow.com与Sedo.com的优点，买卖任何一方可以直接可以在平台上向对方发起交易，根据系统提示做每一步的确认即可完成最后的交易，也可以要求其客服人工介入监督其交易的完整性与安全性，包括域名过户、管理权转移等等。其手续费是8%，金牌会员手续费为4%。这里不防教大家一个省钱的小窍门，很多卖家在金名网都是金牌会员，可以将手续费加给卖家，再由卖家支付手续费，这样可以节约4%。
优点：系统非常便捷，每一个交易步骤都会有系统提示和邮件提醒，并且拥有双语版，根据浏览器判断其默认语言，特别适合与海外用户交易。
缺点：手续费比较高，其知名度仅在于域名业内。
大家对支付宝肯定不陌生了，任何东西都可以在支付宝上交易，其知名度比任何一个平台都高，但就是因为其业务范围比较广泛，所以在域名领域方面一直无法做的很深入，他们不懂的仲裁失败的域名交易，经常有听到圈内的朋友说通过alipay交易，给了域名又被申请退款了。如果是小额交易可以考虑选择通过支付宝交易，但是大额的交易，建议还是要慎重点，最好是通过专业的域名中介平台进行。
优点：知名度非常高，辐射面广，交易免手续费，
缺点：专业性不够，万一碰到问题，无法及时地处理，而且很多不法分子利用其漏洞欺诈域名所有人。
国内最大的域名论坛，其公司是北京网域名城投资顾问有限公司，提供域名中介业务，其手续费为15%，完全人工介入，一对一的进行服务，其安全性完全可以得到保障。
优点：广大域名投资者认可通过其公司进行中介交易，一对一的服务，安全性高。
缺点：手续费较高，交易流程有点烦琐。
国内CN域名注册量最高的一家注册商，其域名经纪手续费为10%。如果是通过他们中介，我倒可以提供一个省钱的域名交易方式：如果交易的域名恰好在该注册商注册，买卖双方可以通过在线带价PUSH的方式自由过户域名，当买家接收域名的同时需要向您的ENAME帐号支付交易款项。但唯一的缺点是该款项不能提现，只能做为域名注册或竞价用，适合域名投资者之间的交易。
优点：过户方便，操作便捷。
缺点：无法提现，卖域名而得的钱只能用来购买域名。
一个服务于站长的网站，在站长圈里知名度挺高，其域名交易手续费为2%，交易方式是通过QQ或其它聊天工具三方商议，人为参与，一对一的服务。该方式比较适合站长之间的交易。
优点：手续费低，服务态度好，交易纠纷能够快速处理。
缺点：人为干涉过多，容易产生纠纷，适合圈内的域名投资人之间交易。
如果是与海外用户交易的，建议选择Escrow.com\Sedo.com\4.cn；
如果您英文很好，并与海外用户交易，那建议选择Escrow.com，他们的信誉度最高，即使是非域名投资者往往也非常信任他们；
如果与域名业内的海外用户交易，那可以选择SEDO.COM；
如果您英文不好，可以完全委托4.cn与海外用户交易，相信中国人还是会帮中国人的；
如果是国内域名投资者之间的交易，可以选择Ename.cn在线PUSH；
如果是站长，那就选择admin5.com吧。
来源：TechWeb （作者：郑小飞）
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Esoftwiz Inc. managed approximately 1,200 gTLD registrations, including registrations in the com and net registries, and is based in Ontario, Canada. ICANN has secured all available Whois data for the current registrations. There are approximately 8 second-level internationalized domain names under this registrar’s sponsorship in the com and net zones.
Request for Statements of Interest
ICANN-accredited registrars who wish to be considered as a potential recipient of a bulk transfer of the names should be in good standing with regard to all ICANN-obligations and submit a written statement of interest by no later than 23:00 UTC on Friday, 19 September 2008, with a description of qualification, which includes at least:
Expressions of interest should indicate, approximately, the amount of time needed by the applicant-registrar to prepare to receive the bulk transfer.
This request for information/expressions of interest is made pursuant to the Draft/Interim Terminated Registrar Transition Procedure posted at http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-2-06jun08-en.htm. ICANN reserves the right to entertain any or none of the statements of interest submitted in response to this request and to select or approve a bulk-transfer recipient outside this process. To the extent confidential treatment of any information in the submission is required, such information should be designated accordingly. Questions and submissions should be submitted by email to mike.zupke @ icann.org.
Source : ICANN
URL : http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-12sep08-en.htm
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以上仅仅是部分域名，
完整列表详见附件：2008年09月14日《拟删除域名列表》国内域名
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