kedaar

Yahoo has applied for a trademark on Y.COM. Everyone knows single char .com are reserved. Only in use single char .coms are Q.com X.com and Z.com. And only in-use domain name is x.com by paypal. However considering the number of new cctlds and sponsored tlds. What are the odds of opening bidding for single char domains in near future?

-REECE-

Here are a couple good articles on the subject of 1 character domain "trademarks":

Gaming The System - The “Single Letter .com” Trademark Claims at Conceptualist.com, By Sahar Sarid
Playing The Single Letter Game

There is a whole history around why it was decided that new registrations of single character domains should be prevented had to do with Jon Postel wanting a "backup plan" in case the root zone file got too big. An old but good book providing a technical background to the Internet if you want to know more about the history of the Internet is: "The Domain Name Handbook High Stakes and Strategies in Cyberspace".

As for odds on single character domains opening up in extensions where they currently are not, that's anyone's guess but I don't believe there is anything technical standing in the way (other than ICANN's current policy on 1 character domains). ICANN seems to be getting more and more "open" to the idea of one character domains -- who knows, maybe the recent change allowing one character domains in .biz, .mobi, .pro, etc are all a test to see what can be expected if ICANN opens up CNO to new registrations of 1 character domains.

It's somewhat ironic how domainer = cybersquatter according to many/most corporations yet very few "actual cybersquatters" would ever contemplate going to the same extent that many of these corporations are in taking out trademarks on generic / single character domains or filing UDRPs because the legitimate domain owners are uninterested in selling them the domains they want and/or at the price they want to pay.

kedaar

Thank You REECE.