Reglikedomain industry desk

South Carolina beats the other USC to .usc — University of

South Carolina beats the other USC to .usc — University of

Sorry, USC in California. Another school will operate .usc.

The University of South Carolina has applied for a top level domain name: .usc.

I believe this is just the second university in the United States to apply for a top level domain. Massachusetts Institute of Technology applied for .mit in the 2012 round. It seems to use it only as a forwarding address.

A couple of Australian schools, Monash and La Trobe, also have top level domains.

By applying for .usc this round, it means the University of Southern California, which uses the domain usc.com, is locked out of the opportunity to control .usc. [Update: see comment from John Berryhill below regarding possible challenges to the school getting the domain.]

The University of South Carolina has a backup plan in case it can’t get .usc: it chose .gamecocks as a potential replacement string.

Also on the wire

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