OnlineDomain.com Domain Name News & Opinions
Objection period for New gTLDs is closing in a few hours. Objections to new gTLD strings must be submitted by 13 March 2013 at 23:59:59 UTC (8:00 pm EDT) in order to be considered by Dispute Resolution Service Providers (DRSPs).
Only 1 objection has been filed so far or at least just 1 of showing up at ICANN’s website. The objection has been filed by Starting Dot s.a.s for the string IMMOBILIEN who’s applicant is United TLD Holdco Ltd. Grounds for filling is “String Confusion”. Starting Dot s.a.s is one of the four applicants for the IMMO new gTLD.
The objection process is intended to afford businesses, individuals, governmental entities and communities an opportunity to formally advance arguments against introducing certain new gTLDs into the domain name system. Parties with standing may file formal objections to applied-for gTLD strings on the grounds of string confusion, legal rights, limited public interest or community opposition.
Objections at a Glance
- Objections must be:
- filed directly with the appropriate DRSP
- written in English
- limited to 5000 words or 20 pages, whichever is less
- note: administrative portions of objection filing documents will be excluded from the word/page count
- addressed to only one application, from only one objector
- based upon only one of the grounds for objection listed above
- Fees apply: DRSPs determine the amount
I think many of the “objections” will be filed via lawsuits in court, and not via ICANN’s process.
Brad
It doesn’t hurt to file a legitimate objection at ICANN.
After the new gTLDs have been assigned you will need a court order to stop them from being delegated that is going to be much harder to achieve.