ICANN’s response leaves room for competing interpretations of the Applicant Guidebook. Is it allowed? Is it prohibited? Or is there a grey area? On Sunday, after hearing conflicting assessments from industry sources, I contacted ICANN to clarify whether applicants pursuing the same top-level domain string may negotiate or form agreements before Reveal Day. The issue … Read more

Partnership brings together two longtime registrar CEOs. A new partnership has submitted applications for 25 top-level domain (TLD) strings in this year’s ICANN TLD expansion round. The effort pairs two well-known figures in the domain industry: Ray King, CEO of the registrar Porkbun, and Todd Han, CEO of Dynadot. They filed the applications under a … Read more

Namecheap outage caused by cooling system failure at Phoenix data center Cooling system failure in Phoenix caused hosting and email services to go down. Domain registrar and hosting provider Namecheap reported an outage this afternoon that affected a number of customer services. The company confirmed that affected services are now back online after the incident … Read more

Two people who previously ran .club are back at it, this time with .factory. USA Made in America Inc. has announced an application for the new top-level domain .factory. The company’s announcement marks a notable development in the ongoing expansion of internet domain choices, and it brings familiar leadership back into the new gTLD arena. … Read more

The party continues for .ai domain investors. Escrow.com published its Q2 Domain Investment Index this week, and the results show a remarkably strong quarter for domain trading, led by a surge in .ai activity. The company reports facilitating $160 million in domain transactions during the quarter on a Gross Payment Volume (GPV) basis — a … Read more

Combat sports gear company fails to take domain through cybersquatting claim AI investor James Booth has successfully defended the ownership of a .ai domain against a cybersquatting complaint brought by a martial arts apparel company. The dispute concerned the domain hyperfly.ai and was decided by a three-member panel at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). … Read more

ICANN BAMC Denies Reconsideration Request Over TLD Application Deadline The Board Accountability Mechanisms Committee (BAMC) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has denied a reconsideration request from a prospective new top-level domain (TLD) applicant who sought additional time to submit an application. The challenge was brought by LaToya Hopelyn Johnson-McKenzie on … Read more

Applications down slightly from 2012 round. ICANN announced today that it received 1,600 applications for top-level domain (TLD) names by the application deadline yesterday. That total represents a decline of roughly 17% compared with the 2012 expansion round, reflecting a smaller but still significant level of interest from brands, registry operators, and other parties seeking … Read more

TLD1 LLC Applies for Four Generic Top-Level Domains in 2026 Expansion Founder of the company has a close tie to a longtime fixture in the domain industry. TLD1 LLC, a recently formed company based in South Carolina, announced its participation in the 2026 top-level domain (TLD) expansion by applying for four generic TLD strings: .etc, … Read more

All bidders can now access API to search, bid, and buy domains. GoDaddy has opened its Auctions API to all auction members, expanding programmatic access to searching, bidding, and purchasing domains. This change makes it possible for a much wider group of users to automate domain acquisition tasks that previously required dedicated development resources. The … Read more