The Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA) has joined other advertiser organizations in decrying a decision by the global organization overseeing the internet address system to expand the number of web domain suffixes from its current 22.
At a June meeting in Singapore, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced that beginning Jan. 12 it would expand the number of generic top level domains (gTLDs) – a group that includes .com, .net, .org and .gov – to include almost any word in any language.
The ACA and other advertiser advocacy organizations, including the World Federation of Advertisers and the U.S.-based Association of National Advertisers (ANA), say the decision could lead to a situation whereby applicants “hijack” brand names to create suffixes like .coke or .pepsi, for example.
A worst-case scenario, said Bob Reaume, the ACA’s vice-president of policy and research, would be the hijacking of a reputable brand name by a “criminal element.”
“Virtually unlimited damage could ensue if criminals own sites with trustworthy domain names that appeal to children or the elderly or other vulnerable groups in society,” said Reaume.
The upshot, he said, would be that companies might need to invest considerable financial and manpower resources to prevent their brand names from being hijacked.
“If you allow this, you actually create an imperative for most brand owners to police it,” said Reaume. “They will actually have to make sure that no one has bought their name and no one has misused it. To marshal those kinds of resources, both financial and people, would be quite onerous.”
In a letter sent to ICANN president Rod Beckstrom this week, Reaume said that the group’s decision presents “serious financial and legal implications” for brand owners, with the power to diminish the power of trademarks, contravene the legal rights of brand owners and create confusion in the marketplace.
Reaume characterized the gTLD expansion program as a “big concern” for ACA members. “Each and every one of them spends a lot of time and resources to brand build, and here’s a sanctioned legal way for someone to hijack a brand,” said Reaume. “It’s crazy.”
Reaume said that an ideal outcome for the ACA would be for ICANN to postpone the start of the gTLD expansion program barring consultation with marketers and a possible “creative brainstorming session” that would enable ICANN to satisfy its requirements while simultaneously protecting brand owners.
“We’re not saying this is a completely unbearable idea, we’re merely asking to be consulted on this,” said Reaume. “If there really is a need [to expand the gTLD program] here, let’s make sure that brand owners are protected as we go forward.”
While some have characterized the tGLD expansion program as a cash cow for the ICANN (it carries a $185,000 application fee as well as annual fees rumoured to be $25,000), ICANN president Rod Beckstrom stressed in an interview at ICANN.org that it is being run on a “cost-recovery only basis.”
However, in an Aug. 4 letter to the ICANN, ANA president and CEO Bob Liodice said that marketers are “essentially being forced” to buy their own brands from ICANN at an initial price of $185,000.
