‘.brands’ become reality as first branded gTLD delegations take place

This weekend ‘.brands’ became a reality with Monash University making a little bit of history, becoming the first such application to be delegated to the DNS root.

In October, WTR reported on the delegation of the first new gTLD applications to the root zone. These related to IDN applications, and subsequent delegations (and sunrises) have centred on generic strings. The announcement that Monash University’s branded TLD is now live, then, is notable for making ‘.brands’  a reality.

In its application, the Australian University states that registrations in the TLD will be made exclusively by Monash University “for the primary purpose of promoting its teaching and research services to the world”. Commenting on this weekend’s milestone, Dr Ian Tebbett, vice president (information) and chief information officer at Monash, expanded: “The ‘.monash’ gTLD will allow the university to manage all of its domain names under the global identity of Monash. Monash recognises how the Internet has dramatically changed the world, including the education and research activities of the university. Greater control over our content and domains will strengthen our online presence and better represent Monash as a global institution. Monash University is an early adopter of new technologies and this is an innovation that will ultimately benefit users by allowing us to develop a new customer-focused university web presence.”

The institution is currently developing its first phase roll-out, with two ‘.monash’ websites expected to go live in the near future. Subsequently, the university will gradually phase the TLD into its digital communications, but will continue its current online presence at ‘monash.edu.’

Six of the eight education sector gTLD applications came from Australian providers, with Adrian Kinderis, CEO of ARI Registry Services, noting: “We’ll soon see the likes of ‘.bond’, ‘.latrobe’ and ‘.rmit’ join ‘.monash’ when they delegate in the coming months. Open Universities Australia will round out the mix with their applications for ‘.courses’ and ‘.study’. It’s an incredible accomplishment that these Australian education providers are at the heart of one of the most significant internet milestones since the introduction of ‘.com’ 28 years ago.”

For now, though, the delegation represents an important moment in the online expansion, as ‘.brands’ officially hit the root (with Domain Incite reporting that CITIC Group’s ‘.中信’ (‘.citic” in Chinese) has joined ‘.monash’ on the delegation roster.

As the pace of delegation picks up, sunrises are launching on a regular basis – last Thursday five new sunrises launched – ‘.сайт’ (‘.site’), ‘.中文网’ (‘.chinese website’), ‘.онлайн’ (‘.online’), ‘.在线’ (‘.chinese online’) and ‘.kiwi’ – and six are to open for registration tomorrow (‘.glass’, ‘.institute’, ‘.education’, ‘.ruhr’, ‘.repair’ and ‘.camp’). To assist brand owners still grappling with the various rights protection mechanisms available to them, ICANN has released an infographic that details the available mechanisms. By Trevor Little

Adapted from worldtrademarkreview.com

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