ICANN Is Ready to Release New Web Domains

ICANN passed a major milestone Friday to broadening the world of domain names by the end of this year

The board of US-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced freshly-approved benefits and responsibilities for registrars that essentially act as domain name wholesalers.  Changes to contractually enforceable rules include requiring registrars to confirm phone numbers or addresses of those buying domain names within 15 days.

"People who have stolen an identity or have criminal backgrounds obviously don't want to give you their name and address if their intentions are not kosher," said Cyrus Namazi, ICANN's vice president of industry engagement.  "The intent here is to weed out bad actors."

The New Roadrunner Domains Manager is Here!

At Roadrunner Domains, we have improved the way our customers work with their domain names. The new Domain Manager features a cleaner, friendlier interface and streamlined domain management processes. To help you, new help articles are available now.

Major League Baseball Buys Outstandings Domain Name

Major League Baseball Buys Outstandings.com

Major League Baseball purchased the domain Outstandings.com at a domain auction last week.  It has not been reported what they plan to do with the domain.  Maybe it could be for "outstanding" player awards. 

New generic top level domains and the Trademark Clearinghouse – this what you need to know

Buying Generic Top Level Domains and What You Need To Know

The world is entering into a period of great change in the internet domain name space.  Approximately 1,400 new generic (and not so generic) top level domains ("gTLDs") will soon be coming online. For trademark owners, this will create potential new opportunities for increasing the scope of their internet presence. However, it will also almost inevitably lead to increased costs and headaches for brand owners in terms of protecting their valuable brands online. There are presently approximately two dozen gTLDs, including .com, .net and .org, as well as numerous country code top level domains, such as .ca, .co.uk and .hk (for Canada, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, respectively). The new gTLDs that are in the process of being rolled out are of four general types, namely, brand names such as .canon and .chevrolet, geographic locations such as .amsterdam and .seattle, industries such as .software, and generic words such as .shop, .art and .book. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN") is in charge of the gTLDs expansion and is expected to begin approving the first of the new gTLDs for use and registration later in 2013. A full list of all of the proposed gTLDs is available here.