Domain Names Wars Sparks Governance, Trade Questions

The planned allocation of a series of new web domain names such as .wine and .vin by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has sparked a row over the implications this might have on international trade agreements, including one currently being negotiated between the US and EU.

This week’s annual meeting of the internet naming body, is to tackle global governance questions as it prepares for next year’s expected transition from being a US-controlled organisation to an international one, whose format and terms have yet to be determined.

Domain names

A domain name is a website identifier with unique features attached to it – normally an IP address expressed in numbers - that is created according to the rules of the DNS naming system. These names are meant to be both easily recognisable and memorable, and indicate ownership or control over a particular resource, such as a computer, network, or service.

ICANN, which was formed in 1998 in the US state of California as a non-profit organisation, has the task of coordinating the internet’s naming system, including the allocation of generic top-level domains, or gTLDs, such as .com or .org. It operates under contract with the US Commerce Department, with the current agreement set to expire next year.

In 2011, ICANN announced plans to authorise a series of new gTLDs, such as .london and .amazon, in order to improve the direction of web traffic. The application process for such domain names began in 2012, drawing nearly 2000 applications. Those have since undergone an evaluation process, and those applications that pass can then move on to contracting.

Over 1300 new gTLDs could become available in the coming years, ICANN says. While the planned release of these new domain names has been welcomed by some, others have warned that doing so could pose a series of problems for the protection of geographical indications and trademarks.

For instance, companies may have to buy up several domain names, in order to ensure that so-called cybersquatting – defined as the “abusive registration of trademarks as domain names” - does not occur.

Among those concerned is the UN’s intellectual property organisation, which warned in March that this move could disrupt today’s strategies for protecting trademarks online.

“The proliferation of potential web addresses, with the expected roll-out of 1400 new gTLDs, will force trademark owners to adjust their priorities in terms of registration and protection choices,” World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Director General Francis Gurry said at that time, noting the difficulties trademark owners already have with regards to smaller budgets and growing uncertainty.

Trade implications?

Potentially included in these planned new gTLDs are .wine and .vin, which has sparked a row between certain EU member states - such as France, Spain, and the UK, as well as the European Commission itself - and the California-based organisation.

Yet how the issue of new domain names might relate to the protection of geographical indications offered by the WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, concluded in 1994, or other international trade negotiations currently underway, remains unclear.

EU officials have said that the planned ICANN move on the .wine and .vin gTLDs could allow producers of goods that are not “genuine” to gain access to these new domain names, and thus undermine their authentic counterparts in the market.

Indeed, the ICANN domain name issue could hurt the TTIP trade talks, said French minister for digital affairs Azelle Lemaire earlier this month, in a letter to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso that was co-signed by other senior officials from her country.

Governance questions emerge as US steps back

The planned gTLD release has been derided by some officials as an example of “opaque” policymaking, and has prompted calls for transparency and a new system. Along with the rollout of new domain names, another one of the major changes underway at ICANN is the plan to cede the organisation’s control from the US to a new international body late next year.