New top level domain names will change trademark landscape

The introduction of a profusion of new top level domain names will change the face of online trademark disputes, it has been claimed.

According to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ (ICANN) chief executive officer Rob Beckstrom, the days of companies and individuals fighting over a limited number of domain names will soon be a thing of the past.

Speaking to SFGate ahead of ICANN’s meeting in San Francisco, Mr. Beckstrom said: “When you open up these new top-level domains, it creates opportunities for individuals and businesses to get the name that they really want to have.”

He added that the introduction of new top level domain names will make the Internet less Anglo-centric.

“Most people in the world feel that the domain name system is American- or English-centric. So the reason is both more variety within western languages that use Latin character sets as well as opening it up for the other character sets,” he added.

Recently, Phil Corwin from the Internet Commerce Association urged ICANN not to bow to increasing pressure from international governments when it comes to the implementation of new top level domain names.