Last week the list of applications for creation of new .ANYTHING generic top-level domain names -gTLDs – was made public.
The full list of the ICAAN “reveal day” list of 1,930 new applicants for gTLDs is here.
Many of the top global brands – especially tech and communications companies – are on the list. Google and Amazon filed not only for their core brand names, but for a variety of other possibilities. The list of brand names applied for as .BRAND include household names such as Ford, GE, Apple, Home Depot, Amex, Nike, GAP, NFL, Lexus, Mattel, and McDonalds. The only clear word applied for by two competing companies with matching brand names is .MONSTER which was applied for by Monster energy and Monster cable.
I am intrigued by the names absent from the list of applicants. Here are, in my mind, some of the major brands that opted out of applying at this time:
.COKE (some claim it to be the most popular word in the world)
.MARLBORO
.DISNEY
.ATT
.VODAFONE
.ADIDAS
.STARBUCKS
.SUBWAY
.BURGERKING
.IKEA