Amazon Wins .Buy For $4.6m, M+M .VIP For $3m and Dot Tech .Tech For $6.8m

On 17 September 2014, an Auction conducted by ICANN’s authorized Auction service provider, Power Auctions LLC, was held to resolve string contention sets for three new generic Top-level Domain (gTLD) strings; BUY, TECH, and VIP.

Four applicants for BUY participated in the Auction. Amazon EU S.à r.l. prevailed in the Auction with the winning price of $4,588,888.

Six applicants for TECH participated in the Auction. Dot Tech LLC prevailed in the Auction with the winning price of $6,760,000.

Dot Tech LLC is in the same group as Dot Registry LLC that has applied for four new community based gTLD’s through the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers ( ICANN): .INC, .LLC, .LLP, and .CORP.

Five applicants for VIP participated in the Auction. Top Level Domain Holdings prevailed in the Auction with the winning price of $3,000,888.

Top Level Domain Holdings Ltd. (TLDH) is the parent company of Minds + Machines.

Akram Atallah, President of ICANN’s Global Domains Division noted “The proceeds from these Auctions will be separated and reserved until the Board determines a plan for the appropriate use of the funds through consultation with the community. We continue to encourage parties to reach agreements amongst themselves to resolve contention.”

String contention occurs when more than one applicant has applied for the same or a confusingly similar gTLD. The applicants for these strings were unable to resolve the contention sets among themselves, and thus proceeded to an auction, which is the method of last resort to resolve string contention sets as prescribed in Module 4 of the Applicant Guidebook. Subject to payment of the Winning Price and meeting all other criteria for eligibility, the winner will begin the contracting process to sign a Registry Agreement to operate the respective gTLD.