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Four new gTLD applications withdrawn, including one closed generic

Kevin Murphy, July 2, 2013, Domain Registries

Four new gTLD application were withdrawn overnight, including the first “closed generic” bid to be dropped since ICANN implemented a freeze on such applications.
Today’s withdrawals are:

  • .movie — Of the eight applications for this string, this Dish DBS bid was one of only two proposed with single-registrant business models. It would have undoubtedly have been captured by the current ICANN hold on closed generics.
  • .chesapeake — A dot-brand filed by Chesapeake Energy. It had already passed Initial Evaluation. While arguably a geographic string, it had not been classified as such by ICANN and had no objections or GAC advice.
  • .chk — An abbreviation of the above, matching Chesapeake’s stock market ticker symbol. It had also already passed IE and had a clear run at delegation.
  • .kerastase Yet another L’Oreal dot-brand application, the sixth of its original 14 bids to be withdrawn.

The total withdrawals to date now stands at 94, 49 of which were uncontested.

Two more new gTLD bids dropped

Kevin Murphy, June 21, 2013, Domain Registries

Uniregistry and LʹOréal, two of the highest profile new gTLD applicants, both withdrew applications today.
Uniregistry has pulled out of the .marketing race, leaving it a two-way battle between Tucows and Donuts. It’s the first application withdrawn by the company, which has applied for 54 gTLDs.
Its .marketing bid was due to get its Initial Evaluation results today. By withdrawing before this happens, the company gets a much bigger refund from ICANN.
LʹOréal, meanwhile, has withdrawn is fourth dot-brand, .maybelline, which is due its IE results next week. The company has 10 applications, a mixture of brands and closed generics, outstanding.

Hong Kong telco drops dot-brand gTLD bid

Kevin Murphy, June 12, 2013, Domain Registries

Hong Kong Telecom has withdrawn its application for the new gTLD .香港電訊, the Chinese-script version of its brand.
The proposed single-registrant gTLD was uncontested, with no objections or Governmental Advisory Committee advice. It’s the 76th application to be withdrawn.
It was a defensive application. Under the heading “Goals”, HKT said: “An important goal of the TLD is the safeguard of the intellectual property right of the HKT and the 香港電訊 brand.”
The company hadn’t bothered to take advantage of the IDN bias in the prioritization draw and wasn’t due to have its Initial Evaluation finalized until the last two weeks of the process.

L’Oreal’s dot-brand bites the dust

Kevin Murphy, June 7, 2013, Domain Registries

Beauty products maker L’Oreal has withdrawn its new gTLD application for .loreal.
I did not see this one coming.
L’Oreal is among the most prolific applicants for new gTLDs from the offline world, applying for 14 strings in total.
One of its marketing executives even spoke at the Digital Marketing & gTLD Strategy Congress in New York this March.
Its primary dot-brand is its first third application to be dropped.
The company has also applied for dot-brands including .maybelline, .garnier and .lancome, and generics such as .salon, .makeup, .skin and .hair, all of which still appear to be active bids.
Is this indicative of a changing gTLD strategy — perhaps the company has decided to focus on its product brands rather than its company name — or is .loreal merely the first latest of many withdrawals?

Today’s new gTLD withdrawals: .play and .design

Kevin Murphy, June 5, 2013, Domain Registries

Two new gTLD applications have been withdrawn today: Directi’s .play and Starting Dot’s .design.
They’re the second application to be withdrawn by Directi after .movie, which it pulled last month for undisclosed reasons, and the first of Starting Dot’s five bids to die.
Starting Dot said that it has bowed out of the .design fight because there were “simply too many” other applicants in the contention set: eight including itself.
“It is now setting its focus and energy supporting and helping to grow its four other domains, and especially the two which are single applicant, .ARCHI and .BIO,” the company said.
I don’t believe either string was the subject of the private auctions that are happening this week. At least, they weren’t on the lists published by Demand Media or Donuts.
Directi’s .play bid, the first of the four-way contention set to be withdrawn, faces competition from Amazon and Google — both with “closed generic” models — as well as Famous Four Media.
The gTLD deadpool now comprises 71 withdrawals.

Pile up! GM cancels two more new gTLD bids

Kevin Murphy, February 19, 2013, Domain Policy

Is General Motors bowing out of ICANN’s new gTLD program completely? It’s certainly looking that way, following the withdrawal of two more of its five original applications.
ICANN updated its site yesterday to reflect that GM has yanked its bids for .chevrolet and .cadillac, two of its proposed automotive dot-brands.
It comes just a few days after its .gmc application was pulled, and suggests that its remaining applications — for .buick and .chevy — may also be withdrawn in the near future.
The total number of gTLD applications withdrawn is now up to 17, a dozen of which are dot-brands, from an original list of 1,930.
We may be seeing more in the near future. Applications withdrawn before ICANN publishes Initial Evaluation results — expected to start March 23 — qualify for a refund of 70%, or $130,000. After that, the refund halves.
The final number of withdrawn applications will be telling, and likely to inform future new gTLD application rounds.
If it turns out a large number of companies applied for dot-brands purely defensively (I wouldn’t consider 12 to 17 withdrawals a large number) then ICANN may have to rethink how the program is structured.