Have just delayed .Web by filing an Independent Review — Vistaprint may

Vistaprint challenges (again) string similarity between .web and .webs. What does this man for the .web timeline?

Vistaprint is the latest fresh top level domain name applicant to invoke the Independent Review process regarding an application.

The firm is upset that a domain it applied for, .webs, has been placed in a contention set with Web.com’s bid for .web following a string similarity objection.

It by now filed (and lost) a Board Governance Committee “appeal” of the decision.

Given the convoluted contention set created by the string confusion objection decision, it would seem that formal contention set resolution for .web will be delayed until the review is complete. I’m sure there’s a lot of ill-will between Web.com and Vistaprint given the similarity of the brands, but Web.com may have shot itself in the foot by filing a string objection against .webs.

Vistaprint follows in the footsteps of three other fresh TLD applicants:

1. Better Living Management, which is upset of GAC advice for .Thai

2. Booking.com, which is complaining regarding a decision that string confusion exists between .hotels and .hoteis

3. DCA Trust, which is upset over the allocation of .Africa based on government support

Independent Review is a rarely used option for challenging ICANN. The expensive process is one of the reasons ICANN set aside a third of application fees for legal expenses related to fresh TLDs.