What's In A Name? ICANN Rejects Amazon's Request For Top-Level Domain Name
As the Internet evolves, so too has the domain name. For years, everything was a .com, .net, .org, .edu, and so on, but now the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has enabled a greater variety of top-level domains (TLDs).
Amazon, which has been accused of hoarding the new TLDs, was obviously hoping to snag .amazon, but it won’t be so; according to the New York Times, a group of Latin American countries including Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay has succeeded in persuading ICANN to keep CEO Jeff Bezos’ (pictured) juggernaut of a company to use the suffix.
The actual Amazon (credit: New York Times)
The group made its case by effectively saying that geography is of more importance than a brand. “In particular ‘.amazon’ is a geographic name that represents important territories of some of our countries, which have relevant communities, with their own culture and identity directly connected with the name,” read the group’s letter of appeal, in part.
These countries make a good point. It may seem obvious that Amazon.com would get a crack at .amazon, but many in the U.S. would be upset if, say, a German company laid claim to .grandcanyon or another important U.S. geological site.
But the greater point here is that ICANN saw it that way, which sets a certain tone for how the group will allot TLDs in the future.
Amazon, which has been accused of hoarding the new TLDs, was obviously hoping to snag .amazon, but it won’t be so; according to the New York Times, a group of Latin American countries including Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay has succeeded in persuading ICANN to keep CEO Jeff Bezos’ (pictured) juggernaut of a company to use the suffix.
The actual Amazon (credit: New York Times)
The group made its case by effectively saying that geography is of more importance than a brand. “In particular ‘.amazon’ is a geographic name that represents important territories of some of our countries, which have relevant communities, with their own culture and identity directly connected with the name,” read the group’s letter of appeal, in part.
These countries make a good point. It may seem obvious that Amazon.com would get a crack at .amazon, but many in the U.S. would be upset if, say, a German company laid claim to .grandcanyon or another important U.S. geological site.
But the greater point here is that ICANN saw it that way, which sets a certain tone for how the group will allot TLDs in the future.
