A couple days ago we told you about how a lot of companies are steamed about the .xxx domain name (intended for porn) scheduled to go into effect in the coming months. Companies don’t want to have to reserve their own .xxx websites in order to protect someone else for getting them. I mean, who wants to own CareBears.xxx, right?
Now there’s grumbling from trade groups representing the advertising industry about the larger expansion of domain names. Some time next year, just about anything might be available from .plumber to .pepsi to .hamsters.
That could create a lot of headaches for brand management, as CNET explains:
One company that’s expressed an interest is camera and copier maker Canon; .canon e-mails and Web addresses bring an opportunity to reinforce the brand and provide some assurance to a customer that communications aren’t with a fake entity.
But it’s possible that a registrar could set up the .camera domain, at which point Canon might feel compelled to pay that registrar for canon.camera. There could be different reasons for that move: Consumers might try to load that Web address, or companies might want to ward off cybersquatters–those who register a brand name address in hopes of selling it at a premium to a trademark holder.
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