Publishing Industry Fights Amazon Over Domain Name Acquistions
A pair of publishing groups -- the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers -- are against Amazon's plans to take control of new top-level domain (TLD) names that recently became available. The publishing groups argue that giving Amazon access to addresses that end in ".book," ."author," and ".read" would be a threat to competition, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Barnes & Noble also filed an objection with ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), stating that Amazon could use the Internet domain suffixes to effectively stifle competition. That sentiment was echoed by the Authors Guild.
"Placing such generic domains in private hands is plainly anti-competitive," Scott Turow, president of the Authors Guild, wrote in a letter to ICANN. "The potential for abuse seems limitless."
Amazon has applied for dozens of new domain suffixes, including ".app," ".movie," ".free," ".game," ."kindle," ."prime," and ."wow." Domains such as .kindle and .prime have obvious value for Amazon, though it's unclear what the e-tailer would use the other ones for. It's one of the biggest companies participating in the virtual land grab, though out of the 76 TLDs it's applying for, 30 of them are contested.
Barnes & Noble also filed an objection with ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), stating that Amazon could use the Internet domain suffixes to effectively stifle competition. That sentiment was echoed by the Authors Guild.
"Placing such generic domains in private hands is plainly anti-competitive," Scott Turow, president of the Authors Guild, wrote in a letter to ICANN. "The potential for abuse seems limitless."
Amazon has applied for dozens of new domain suffixes, including ".app," ".movie," ".free," ".game," ."kindle," ."prime," and ."wow." Domains such as .kindle and .prime have obvious value for Amazon, though it's unclear what the e-tailer would use the other ones for. It's one of the biggest companies participating in the virtual land grab, though out of the 76 TLDs it's applying for, 30 of them are contested.
