ICANN continues to rapidly expand the Internet this summer — newest statistics released

As of July 4, 2014 ICANN announced that out of the 1,930 applicants received in 2012, 1,146 have been invited to contracting. Contracting is the process through which ICANN will contact eligible applicants and engage with them through execution of the registry agreement. Contracting is part of the transition to delegation phase of the New gTLD Program. To date, 464 registry agreements have been signed and those new gTLDs have entered the delegation phase of the program.

Next six gTLDs jump into the Internet pool

More than 300 new gTLDs have now been delegated to the root zone. A gTLD is delegated to the root zone and becomes a part of the Internet once it has completed the new gTLD program. The newest group of gTLDs to be delegated is:

• .deals
• .melbourne
• .city
• .schmidt
• .cuisinella
• .cancerresearch

gTLDs in sunrise —update

The following gTLDs are now added to the long list of gTLDs available for sunrise registration so far this month:

The following gTLDs are closing their sunrise periods this month and moving on to the next phases:

Following sunrise and landrush periods, new gTLDs move into the final stage, general availability. At this time anyone can register a second-level domain within the new gTLD subject to availability. Read a list of new gTLDs and their status.

If any of these gTLDs could be of value to you or your brand, or are of concern — remember that, as a registered agent of ICANN’s Trademark Clearinghouse, we can help develop and implement your gTLD strategy. For more information, read Porter Wright’s law alert about gTLDs.