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.storage to have pricey second sunrise

Kevin Murphy, July 31, 2017, 12:33:33 (UTC), Domain Registries

The .storage gTLD is to get a second sunrise period after being acquired and repurposed by XYZ.com.
The registry will operate a “Trademark Landrush Period” for three weeks from November 7 as the first stage of .storage’s reboot as an open-to-all gTLD.
It’s not technically a “sunrise” period under ICANN rules — that phase was already completed under previous owner Extra Space Storage — nor is it restricted to trademark owners.
Basically anyone with the money will be able to buy a .storage domain during the period, but at a price.
One registrar is reporting that registrants will have to pay a $1,500 application fee on top of the soon-to-be-standard higher $699-per-year registration fee.
That’s considerably more than most new gTLDs charge during their regular sunrise phases.
There’s no need to own a matching trademark, so neither the registry, registrars or Trademark Clearinghouse have any trademark verification costs to bear.
But that also means anyone can pick up any generic, dictionary .storage domain they want without the need for paperwork. XYZ has previously said that all domains will be available at the same price, regardless of their previous “premium” status.
I can see some intellectual property interests being uneasy with how this relaunch is handling trademarks.
Under its former management, .storage was set to be tightly restricted to the physical and data storage industries, reducing the chance of cybersquatting, so some brands may have avoided the sunrise period.
After the relaunch — general availability starts December 5 — there will be no such restrictions. However, the high price of standard registrations is likely to deter all but the richest or dumbest cybersquatters.
XYZ.com acquired .storage for an undisclosed sum in May. There are currently about 800 domains in the .storage zone file.

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Comments (3)

  1. Kyle says:

    Put it back in .storage
    .worthless
    .gtldsSuck

  2. James Hogan says:

    This TLD is allergic to making money.

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