Google beaten in new gTLD contention set
When it comes to new gTLDs, Google is not invulnerable.
Japanese web portal NTT Resonant, a subsidiary of the country’s incumbent national telco, has drawn first blood against the search giant, apparently forcing Google to withdrawn its application for .goo.
NTT has also applied for .goo, the name of its primary portal site, which competes with Google for Japanese-language searchers.
The company had filed a formal legal rights objection with WIPO. The withdrawal demonstrates that the mechanism can protect trademark owners, at least insofar as it can scare off competing applicants.
Google’s bid was marked as withdrawn on ICANN’s web site overnight. It’s the fourth withdrawal from the company, following three misjudged geographic applications, leaving it with 97 active bids.
There are now 82 withdrawn and 1,848 live applications. The maximum number of delegated strings remains steady at 1,365. More program status stats can be found over on DI PRO.
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