Only properly structured and
clearly legit and globally strong trademark holders would be able
to protect themselves; the rest with generic business names based
on dictionary words, geographic names or general type surnames
would have little protection.
There soon will be a central place for Web surfers to dwell in
a forbidden cyber land of adult fantasies, sex, dark rituals and
total taboos. Finally, ICANN has given in to the pressure and
has tossed a big rock across the turbulent e-commerce ocean. It
has approved a new suffix, .xxx, for adult-only porn sites, creating
ripples and debates in ever so confusing global cyber branding
times when cyber global domain name challenges are being fought
in the complex earthly trademark realities.
Three things are bound to happen.
Segregation and polarization.
The most profitable sector of the Internet is still adult Web
sites. Though XXX offers a great branding opportunity to most
adult sites, it still raises some serious questions and it demands
some viewing strategies. Most sites will go through a frenzy to
secure their already existing names with the new suffix, and also
there will be a series of new names ending with .xxx. This suffix
has a great appeal for adult content.
Most adult Web sites will use this new suffix while keeping all
the other existing suffixes, including .com. This has happened
each time a new suffix has been introduced, though it has fizzled
down very quickly as the public at large has had no time to figure
out the new suffixes, being as it is so overwhelmed with the commonality
of the .com suffix.
Blocking and access.
For the first time, adult sites will have a visible and a clearly
identifiable component to the very specific nature of the site,
unlike .com, which is so general in nature. This would mean various
search engines, portals and individuals would be able to sort
and select by this suffix, to either allow or block such sites
and e-mails.
Monetizing and marketing.
This will bring added revenue and create some sparks for the registrars.
The registration will become a money-making process of millions
of new registrations, changes, modifications, squatting and legal
disputes. The domain management industry will be humming for a
while.In the coming days and beyond, once the dust settles down,
there will be three key questions:
Enforcement? Is it possible that there will be a requirement by
law to move all adult stuff to .xxx? This would require a more
serious debate on the definition of what is an adult site, is
it for selling guns, discussing philosophy, Alzheimer, sexual
diseases, or just raw sex? If it is just raw sex, then why not
introduce a new suffix of .sex? The issue of freedom of speech
will be right at the center of the discussion, and there is no
easy way for this to be legislated. It would become a Pandora's
box.
Privacy? The exposure of the .xxx would take away users' privacy
as they might be reluctant to be seen with such a highly visible
identity. Today most adult sites are nicely camouflaged into name
brands like PersianKitty.com or BlueRiver.net, etc. The same names
with .xxx will make it too obvious.
Squatters? Squatters and other players might find a moneymaking
angle by creating embarrassment and exploiting legitimate business
site names by registering them in the .xxx domain. This would
be embarrassing to a legitimate business, which would have to
explain that it has nothing to do with such a site, such as www.Disney.xxx,
www.dell.xxx, www.lg.xxx or www.sony.xxx.
Only properly structured and clearly legit and globally strong
trademark holders would be able to protect themselves; the rest
with generic business names based on dictionary words, geographic
names or general type surnames would have little protection. ICANN
has always moved in a very unpredictable manner since inception,
and randomly creating additional top level domain (TLD) suffixes
doesn't help. Each time a new category is added, it opens a wide
debate.
Basically, a clear policy is needed on whether ICANN will open
certain TLDs or not and under what situations. It can either work
with only current suffixes and close the book, or have a system
like the yellow pages. It could introduce suffixes for each industry,
like hotels, airlines, libraries, marketing, real estate, doctors,
and dentists, employed and unemployed, etc., adding some 5,000
such international categories. Open to Anyone
Two problems. First, as long as there are no requirements for
any proof or identification for a particular business or activity,
anybody could use any suffix and simply jump into any category
of choice. Second, searching would fail, as there will be no way
to know who is whom. Under the present registration set up, this
process of identity and control can't be policed.
The cost of registration and domain name management would become
a nightmare, as most would like to cover all the bases and have
as many registrations in as many different suffixes as possible.
The end user would be seriously frustrated to remember if it should
type a hospital, doctor or medical suffix to find help.
What non-adult businesses must do is stay clear of this forbidden
area. They should secure good trademarks and make sure they have
very solid .com names.
In this brand-name-driven economy, only properly executed corporate
and product naming with five star standards accompanied with cyber-branding
will survive. Furthermore, .com is still the king and the other
suffixes are names on life support, names that have no chance.
Customers all over the world recognize a .com as a high profile
operation versus .net, .biz or. info. It is still very easy to
get a .com name with a globally protected trademark as long as
you have the right expertise on the global naming issues.
DotComs & Globally Trademarked
Names
Obviously, holders of professionally created and properly managed
globally trademarked names with matching .coms are the lucky ones.
Engage your entire organization on domain name management issues
and discover the power of real e-commerce via global cyber-branding.
It is still the cheapest medium and yet ignored by 97 percent
of the corporations worldwide. Most corporations are convinced
that once they have acquired a few Web sites and a few e-mails,
they are now fully engaged in the art of e-commerce. Now doesn't
this sound like children-only business?
© Naseem Javed- June 10th '05
Naseem Javed is a world authority on Global Name Identities and
Domain Issues. He introduced The Laws of Corporate Naming in the
80's and also founded ABC Namebank, a consultancy established
in New York and Toronto a quarter century ago. Naseem also conducts
executive workshops and conferences on global image and name identities
issues. www.azna.com/ceo.htm
The
Age of Abundance
Naseem Javeed wonders where are all the new ideas?
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