Group claims three TLDs would give Google an unfair competitive advantage.
A consortium that promotes competition in search has filed objections against three of Google’s top level domain bids.
Robin Wauters with The Next Web was the first to write about the objections this morning.
FairSearch filed objections with International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) over .search, .fly, and .map. ICC is one of three dispute resolutions providers hearing new TLD objections. ICC handles objections related to Limited Public Interest and Community Objections.
In a post on its web site, FairSearch says that awarding these TLDs to Google would allow it to “gain an unfair competitive advantage against other members of this community through the improper grant of a perpetual monopoly of generic industry terms to a single company.”
A quick look at FairSearch’s member companies will explain why it is opposed to .fly. The first five listed companies all compete in the online travel business and are already concerned about Google’s acquisition of ITA Software and how Google handles flight searches.
Other FairSearch backers include Oracle, Nokia, and search rival Microsoft.
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