First 3 New TLDs Pass Extended Evaluation

Oct. 5, 2013 - PRLog -- In 2012, ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, held a historic application round inviting organizations to apply to create new Top Level Domains (TLDs). A Top Level Domain (TLD) is the text to the right of the final dot in a domain name.  For example, .com is the most popular TLD today.  Over 1,900 applications for new Top Level Domains were submitted in ICANN's 2012 application round, which closed in Q1 2012.

The Application Process to create a new TLD is a lengthy one. The first step in the process was an Administrative Completness check, which consisted of ensuring that the applicants had filled in all required responses and had paid all requisite fees. All of the applicants for new TLDs passed the Administrative Completeness phase.

The next phase of the application process was the Initial Evaluation phase. Applicants who pass Initial Evaluation are allowed to proceed to the next phase of the Application process. Applications who fail to pass Initial Evaluation are given the option to request an Extended Evaluation of their application.  38 Applicants requested Extended Evaluation of their applications.

On October 4, 2013, ICANN announced the first set of Extended Evaluation Results.  .LTD (http://www.dotanything.co/tlddetail.aspx?tld=ltd), .LLC (http://www.dotanything.co/tlddetail.aspx?tld=llc) and .Express (http://www.dotanything.co/tlddetail.aspx?tld=express) have all passed Extended Evaluation.

What's Next?
The .LTD application filed by Dot Registry LLC was one of 7 applications filed to create the .LTD TLD.  2 of the 7 applications have withdrawn their application for the .LTD application.  Which leaves 5 applicants still vying for the chance to operate the .LTD application.  Now that all five of the applicants have now passed the Evaluation phase of the application process the .LTD contention set will move into the next step of the application process.  Since none of the applicants have formal Objections pending, the next step will likely involve negotiations or else a bidding process to determine which of the 5 remaining applicants for the .LTD TLD will move on to contract negotiations and pre-delegation testing for the .LTD TLD.

The .LLC application filed by Dot Registry LLC was one of 9 applications filed to create the .LLC TLD.  1 of the 9 applicants for the .LLC TLD has already withdrawn its application.  The remaining 8 applications have now passed the Evaluation phase of the application process.  No formal Objections were filed against any of the .LLC applicants.  Therefore, the next phase of the application process will involve either negotiations or else a bidding process.

The .Express application filed by Express, Inc. was one of two applicants for the .Express TLD.  Both applicants for the .Express TLD have now passed the Evaluation phase of the ICANN application process.  Express, Inc. has filed a Legal Rights objection against the .Express application filed on behalf of Sea Sunset, LLC (a Donuts company). The Legal Rights objection filed by Express Inc against its competitor for the .Express TLD was rejected. The next step in the application process will be for the two applications for the .Express TLD to negotiate or else bid against eachother for the right to proceed to the next step in the application process.

Visit http://www.DotAnything.co/News for new and information about new TLDs.