ICANN is hosting a breakfast event entitled “The Evolution of Domain Names” in London next week.
The event, which will be held at the Royal Society, will have a firm focus on how big brands plan on using domains.
The speakers for the event are:
- Akram Atallah, President of the Global Domains Division (GDD), ICANN
- Freida Tallon, Sky
- Elliot Antrobus-Holder, Barclays
- Martin Sutton, HSBC/The Brand Registry Group
Akram Atallah will speak about the new TLD programme two years in, as well as looking towards the future.
With 3/4 of the panelists representing .brand domain name registries one would assume that the focus will be on big brands’ experiences to date and a possible look towards a future round.
To date there hasn’t been a huge amount of visible activity in .brand name spaces, though this will probably change over time.
Sony, for example, are using a .sony domain name to promote a tie-in with the latest James Bond film Spectre:
http://www.assistmoneypenny.sony/en/
During ICANN 54 last week in Dublin there was some talk from “brands” of either a special round for .brand applicants or giving them some kind of expedited application process. Twitter’s Stephen Coates, for example, raised it during the public forum on Thursday afternoon:
… I would like to make a suggestion that we work on a parallel path going into Round 2 with the CCT and the RPM reviews, and also suggest perhaps an expedited process for dot brands. So moving forward with a single registrant closed dot brands which may not need full CCT or RPM review process that will allow us applicants who are not — who did not participate or were not around during Round 1 to take advantage of some of the security benefits that operating a dot TLD have, as well as some of the DNS innovations that can be explored in that process, which I think will help ensure success of the TLD program.
Whether that will happen or not, however, is probably up to a combination of the GNSO Council and the ICANN Board.
Event details:
When? 3 November 2015, 0830 – 1100
Where? Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG
RSVP to: emea.communications@icann.org
