New top level domain name applicants in contention sets have two remaining options for resolving who gets to “own” each string: Settle it amongst themselves or participate in an ICANN “auction of last resort”.
So far a trickle of contention sets have been settled via private auctions (the first option), and the ICANN auctions are set to begin next month.
On the face of it, the private auction is the way to go. The “losers” in such negotiations walk away with a bunch of cash.
Yet some new TLD applicants don’t like that model. There are two main reasons I’ve heard that new TLD applicants don’t want to participate in private auctions.
First, some want to delay as long as possible to bleed their competitors dry. They’re spending cash every month, and the longer it takes the less money they have to win an auction.
Second, and more common, is the desire to not set a precedent for round 2 of new TLDs. If companies pay off their rivals this time, won’t those rivals apply for even more domains next time with the hope to get paid off again?
In comes the Domain Name Association with an alternative plan. Under this plan much of the final bid amount will be directly invested in furthering new TLDs through marketing and other mechanisms.
I understand this alternative has been discussed for a long time. It makes sense and I think it will gain traction.
The model still allows for some sort of payoff to losing bidders, to be determined by all auction participants. It also is auction provider-agnostic.
Some of the biggest new TLD applicants (including private auction holdouts to date) are members of Domain Name Association. Presumably some are on board for this plan.
Can you imagine the marketing impact a unified spend of tens of millions of dollars could have on new TLDs overall?
Andrew – we / RightOfTheDot were the ones that came up with this idea and concept of helping to fund the marketing and good faith efforts of the DNA through portions of contention resolution and private auction funding and proceeds. Since the DNA is a non profit organization, the participants in the auctions that allocate all or a portion of the proceeds to fund the DNA could also receive a tax deduction or benefit if their corporate or individual structure allows.
This also addresses concern of some of the large publicly traded companies who do not want to pay non winning bidders with winning proceeds of a private auction due to corporate bylaws or by funding competitors in certain marketing and sales segments.
Many of those companies are DNA founding board members and / or have memberships to the organization.
We hope this really helps with getting those “hold outs” to the table and resolve privately rather than participate in the ICANN last resort auction options which benefit no one in the contention sets.
Monte
dna should really change their name. they are all about pushing new gtlds, not ALL domains like they claim. its just a BS organization set up to make themselves money..a “bros” club.
I would shot myself in the foot before paying DNA a dime.
I have a plan too. I will do the auctions and give the money to charity.
We also offer charity distribution as an option. The DNA is a non profit so also considered a charity and a choice among applicants….as is any charity they prefer.
@onlinedomain – Why?
Why would I pay Google and other registries including the scam artist What Box to proceed with their own agenda? They don’t care about registrants and they have made that perfectly clear on their website. I have written more on the subject at DomainIncite.
Onlinedomain – your not paying any registry by having the DNA funded. The DNA initiative is to advance the entire domain industry, regardless of extension, registry or registrar or end user. Before you think you know what the organization stands for, I would spend some time on their site – http://thedna.org/
Like the ICA, its a group that is trying to better the entire domain industry and finally has support from the largest organizations in the world. That is a very good sign of things to come for all of us in the domain industry IMO.
Please do your research.
@Monte. I know what the DNA is all about. They have members with fake trademarks. I have read all this thedna.org crap. They do pretty much nothing. And when they do is to advance the registries agenda. They made a couple of infographics and a couple of 5 line comments. DNA is a joke. Sorry.
And don’t bring ICA into this. ICA is actually doing some work for all of us. DNA does the opposite.
You do your research before joining a bullshit “non-profit”.
You aren’t paying them. You didn’t apply for any new TLDs. If you did pay for a new TLD, then you might want to fund the group that’s going to support you rather than have all of the money go directly to your competition.
This was a hypothesis. If I had a new gtld then I wouldn’t be paying them…
And even if I had a new gtld then I wouldn’t support a group that has someone on their board that is trying to steal domains from other members with fake trademarks.
I’ll agree with you that it looks bad having Erik Ludwick on the board.