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Web.com just gave itself another reason to bid high for .web gTLD

Kevin Murphy, November 9, 2015, 17:33:14 (UTC), Domain Registrars

Registrar group Web.com is changing its stock market ticker symbol to WEB tomorrow, in another sign that it really, really wants to be identified with the string.
The switch from WWWW may indicate that the NASDAQ-listed company’s six rivals for the new gTLD .web have a fight — and a possible big payday — on their hands when .web finally goes to auction.
Web.com is competing with Nu Dot Co, Radix, Google, Donuts, Afilias and Schlund for the gTLD.
The company has already fiercely defended its “right” to .web, filing successful String Confusion Objections against .webs applicant Vistaprint.
Vistaprint subsequently filed an ICANN Independent Review Process complaint to appeal its SCO loss.
Last month, the IRP was won by ICANN, but the panel left the door open for ICANN to reconsider its decision.
The .web auction is not likely to go ahead until the Vistaprint issue is resolved.
If ICANN decides the two strings can be delegated separately, what I think is the last barrier to the .web auction going ahead disappears.
If not, then Vistaprint finds itself as the seventh contender in the auction, which may give it the impetus to carry on challenging the ruling.
ICANN’s board plans to discuss the issue at its next meeting, December 10.
Which way it leans will give an indication of how long it will be before .web goes to auction.

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Comments (3)

  1. Christopher Ambler says:

    Funny how some feel they have a “right” to .web, after ICANN stole it to give to the highest bidder.
    Corruption is never pretty, though, is it?

  2. Andrew Bennett says:

    I still remember when Centralnic sold .web.com
    https://www.namepros.com/threads/web-com-sub-domains-r-i-p.456022/

  3. z says:

    ICANN definitely stole it from Image Online Design. Little guy has a hard time winning. Why is Google even in this mix. Donuts already has plenty of business skin in this gtld game. Too bad Web.com may have to pay a lot, but it looks like they have the strongest mandate.
    https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/iod-v-icann-2012-11-02-en

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