Get your .canon (DOT CANON)

dotker · Mar 20, 2010

what is the ICANN thinking now?

Canon

TOKYO, March 16, 2010—Canon Inc. announced today that it will begin the acquisition process for the top-level domain name ".canon," based on the new generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) registration system.

The non-profit organization ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), which maintains and regulates the Internet's addressing system, has rigorously evaluated the current gTLD string of characters' societal value, utilization purpose, and use in an organization's operations. At its International Public Meeting held in June 2008, however, ICANN approved the relaxation and liberalization of the new gTLD system adoption rules. Following this meeting, a number of disputes arose surrounding whether the entry procedures were fair and adequate, and it was expected that the new gTLD system would commence registration application within 2010 at the earliest. The new gTLD system is expected to allow a company name, brand name, geographic region, or service type to be used as a gTLD within website and e-mail addresses.

Along with its expanding global business activities, Canon will continue to provide online information and services to its users, consumers, and other stakeholders, across the world's countries and regions. With the adoption of the new gTLD system, which enables the direct utilization of the Canon brand, Canon hopes to globally integrate open communication policies that are intuitive and easier to remember compared with existing domain names such as "canon.com." Canon has made the official decision to begin necessary procedures to acquire ".canon" upon the introduction of the new system. Following approval for the new gTLD system, which is expected to take place after the latter half of 2011, Canon will make full use of the new domain name to increase the convenience and effectiveness of its online communications.

DubDubDubDot · Mar 21, 2010

It's certainly the start of something.

Most likely, just typing ".TLD" in the address bar will take you to the site. No full URL necessary. If so, all major companies will want this functionality. For the first time, .com will be second rate.

Sparhawke · Mar 21, 2010

I don't think the .com will be second rate as it is still the most internationally recognised extension but it will stop many trademark squatters in their tracks...

DubDubDubDot · Mar 21, 2010

Sparhawke said:
I don't think the .com will be second rate as it is still the most internationally recognised extension but it will stop many trademark squatters in their tracks...

I meant second rate in that .keyword will be more desirable than keyword.com (assuming that you can just enter in .TLD).

abc3200 · Mar 21, 2010

This is going to have very little effect on .com or any other extension, imo. First of all, it's likely to be available only to the largest companies in the world. And they aren't buying all that many domain names anyway. Secondly, .canon is unlikely to be preferred to canon.com. If it is, product.canon is almost certainly not going to be preferred to product.com, despite the product being a Canon product. Third, if every company starts buying their own .company, it would just be a bunch of .company extensions replacing the .com for those companies. The proliferation of .company names would make things inconvenient for users and owners of .company extensions will undoubtedly want to own company.com.

Domagon · Mar 22, 2010

From what I see, they've not even applied yet. It's just a PR spin piece about how they're planning to apply.

The irony here is that if the root is opened to vanity gTLDs, as ICANN is proposing, easy, intuitive, unique "brandables" become more valuable in marketing over pure generics, which will in many instances be unavailable / diluted by similar vanity gTLDs...

In addition, most people already are using search engines much of the time to reach sites. And that's going to greatly increase as other browsers follow Google's Chrome approach of integrating the address bar and search engine all into one.

Interesting how what's old is new again - unique name branding that can be easily protected; not worth the expense ($200,000+ plus on-going maintenance fees) registering as a gTLD by others, since it's not generic.

Ron

DnEbook · Mar 22, 2010

not every company can afford the cost associated with such an extension , plenty of room for .com and the others

Sparhawke · Mar 22, 2010

It is just impractical for them large companies to believe that we are all going to start typing in .canon or whatever in the vague hopes that they have got their act together, they have been shoving the .com down our throats for 15 years ever since Amazon and Ebay and we have only just gotten used to it as a society.

If you went onto the street and asked 100 random people who obviously have no clue about how to find companies they will at least have a vague idea it is something to do with a .com

If you only have a handful of companies in the world that has the power to acquire such a thing people willstill assume it is a .com, regardless of what custom extension they have got.

This is nothing but a way of finally beating out the trademark squatters and telling the world that if you type .amazon into a search engine you will arrive at the official site, nothing more and it will not replace the vast majority of the web.

dtagr · Mar 22, 2010

evirtual1 said:
......printers.canon

Nowhere near as good as printers.com:imho: which is a saleable and appreciating asset.

Robin · Mar 22, 2010

Must for cannon users only.

mrjohn · Mar 22, 2010

dotker said:
what is the ICANN thinking now?

Same thing ICANN has always been thinking: ca-ching!

Remember, while not for profit, ICANN does an amazingly good job of assign incentive-based contract that make a mockery of their status.

As for .canon . . .

Can you even imagine the reaction of the average user the first time they see this crap in their inbox?

Also, lets be really honest here: what's the betting line on how long it takes someone in Russia to game this thing and use it as cover for spam? There are already Russian hackers setting up their own ISPs. What's TLD when you have, essentially, corporate backing?

Buyers still have left good .NET and .INFO domains out there. Except for a few thousand global brands and the inevitable attempts at registering .XXX by this roundabout method, there isn't going to be a vast rush to this.

DnEbook · Mar 22, 2010

dtagr said:
Nowhere near as good as printers.com:imho: which is a saleable and appreciating asset.

that's what their aiming at friend .......like it or not , to them it's invaluable , also copiers.canon

why the big shock , we all knew gtld's like this were coming

Ms Domainer · Mar 22, 2010

*

I suspect that corporate TLDs are going to change the face of domaining forever and will offer companies ironclad protection of their marks.

I am more concerned about the legality and ethics of generic TLDs (even when they are trademarks) because this gets into the issue of "ownership" of common words, especially in entire categories. For example, who should have the right to the TLD .apple? Apple computers? Apple Records? Brown's Apple Orchard? Apple Growers Association? Apple Car Dealer? The Apple Trademark Association? (For example, a consortium of Apple TM holders).

Companies, such as Verizon, were smart to brand themselves using "created" words. They will likely win approval of their TLD without any problem.

I think lawsuits re: generics are going to tie ICANN up in court for years, if not decades, as major corporations go after each other in the scramble for their TLDs.

I also see companies "rebranding" themselves with created words, which might provide some limited opportunity to domainers IF they nab made-up words BEFORE TMs and announcements are made public.

It could be a huge mess and money pit for ICANN if they must fend off angry lawsuits from deep-pocket corporations and persistent grassroots groups.

The Canon application may offer a window into what industry might expect for the near future in terms of lawsuits. According to Wikipedia, the word "canon" has six or seven different generic applications:

Canon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Should be interesting to watch.

*

Kate · Mar 22, 2010

Canon.canon ? Kinda redundant.

bmugford · Mar 22, 2010

How many words really fit in .Canon? I don't really see the point.

It will probably just end up driving traffic to their .COM as most people will naturally type .COM at the end out of instinct.

I can see the point in a generic word extension like .Music, but even then it is not like there are millions of great keywords you would want in that extension.

I agree that many of those extensions will be locked up in legal challenges for years.

Brad

mjbenterprises · Mar 22, 2010

This will just strengthen .com domains, just as it has always done....

DNNinja · Mar 22, 2010

it doesn't make any sense but for Nick maybe ... you know that dude with Mariah.

Jaco · Mar 22, 2010

bmugford said:
How many words really fit in .Canon?

It isn't about breaking open keyword streams, as is the cynical intent of every come-lately theme TLD.

It's about taking whole possession of your most relevant marketing device- your website- in a very intimate way.

To companies like this (big, major corporations where things measured six figures or less are paid from petty cash), being able to define their web presence as drink.coke is worth the price of admission for a vanity TLD, whether they ultimately use it for other keyword strategies (contest.coke, buy.coke, etc) or not.

I ask every 'domainer' this question.
Imagine you are CEO of a Fortune 500 company in the business of manufacturing contract mechanical components. Lets say, your company is named Flozix, Inc. You already own Flozix.com and all relevant variants, both keyword and TLD.
An opportunity arises for you to become .flozix.

Your aircraft parts division would be aero.flozix
Cars and trucks: auto.flozix
Company info: info.flozix
Investor relations: investors.flozix
Vendors: vendors.flozix
Bidding and Procurement: contracts.flozix

Think that corporations wouldn't be interested in this?
Because I think anyone with an IQ above 10 knows the answer. The ultimate question is whether vanity TLDs will see wide scale adoption or not and what this might do to impact domain name values, how domains interplay with search engines, etc.

bmugford · Mar 22, 2010

Well, the short answer is I would take the .COM for branding.

It is well known and has credibility worldwide. There is no way I would replace a .COM with a .Whatever for branding.

Brad

Dongsman said:
I ask every 'domainer' this question.
Imagine you are CEO of a Fortune 500 company in the business of manufacturing contract mechanical components. Lets say, your company is named Flozix, Inc. You already own Flozix.com and all relevant variants, both keyword and TLD.
An opportunity arises for you to become .flozix.

Your aircraft parts division would be aero.flozix
Cars and trucks: auto.flozix
Company info: info.flozix
Investor relations: investors.flozix
Vendors: vendors.flozix
Bidding and Procurement: contracts.flozix

Jaco · Mar 22, 2010

I wouldn't.

As of now, .com is the paradigm.
Totally custom, vanity TLD's are the only chance of ever busting it and if adopted widely, it wouldn't surprise me one bit to see it happen.

No one is arguing the acceptance or 'consumer comprehension' of .com. That's inarguable. The question is; what happens to consumer consciousness when the TLD structure is no longer fixed in terms of theme TLD's created by ICANN, but busted wide open? When domains aren't a matter of keyword.com, but a matter of keyword.brand? The potential of this is bigbig. Sure, .com is accepted. Lots of things enjoyed massive contemporary acceptance, then faded into obscurity or had their relevance marginalized. We're talking about a medium that, for all intents and purposes, is less than 20 years old and still very, very green.

No one will know who's right or who's wrong for a generation, but hopefully, we'll all be around to see the outcome. Either way, it will resolve in our lifetimes.

namewaiter · Mar 22, 2010

frih said:
Must for cannon users only.

oops nice typo, lets see who gets .cannon

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