Fresh TLDs include at least four contested .brand applications
Firms battle each other for rights to top level domains.
I’ve identified at least four cases of contested .brand top level domain applications, defined here as a case where two different brand holders are going following the same top level domain.
.Monster – Monster, Inc. vs. Monster Worldwide, Inc. The former sells really expensive cables and other audiophile products, the later runs job boards.
.SAS – Research IP LLC vs. SAS AB. This is a battle I expected following the latter disclosed its plans. The first is SAS Institute, which owns SAS.com. The latter is Scandinavian airline SAS.
.Guardian – Guardian Life Insurance Firm vs. Guardian News and Media – given who the second firm is, this battle might get a bit of press.
.Merck – Merck KGaA vs. Merck Registry Holdings, Inc. – At first I thought this was a case of one firm filing multiple applications from different departments. But I’m told they are two distinct firms.
Of course, some of the other .brand applications may be contested by generic applications. Apple won’t have any competition for .apple, though.
Have you spotted any others?
