One of the new gTLD applicants for .sucks opened up Priority Registrations for .sucks domain names for $250 per domain and Trademark Priority Registrations of $2,500 per domain.
The truly shocking part of today’s announcement is that the registry plans on charging $25,000 PER domain for Sunrise Registrations.
Sunrise is reserved for registered trademarks which are registered with the Trademark Clearing House (TMCH).
The registry is offering is a $250 priority registration “Reserve the name you want now, first-come, first-serve. Your registration will take place before General Availability.” or a Trademark Priority Registration for $2,500 per domain.
“If a trademark holder waits until Sunrise to apply the fee is going to be $25,000 per domain.”
“Trademark Priority”
“Trademark Holders can reserve now and secure a price of $2,500 to avoid announced Sunrise pricing of $25,000.”
“Trademark Priority registrations will take place BEFORE sunrise”
The Vox Populi Registry Inc. owned by Momentous Corporation, which is the only shareholder listed as owning at least 15% of the registry is opened to business
Momentous Corporation also owns Pool.com
The other two applicants for .Sucks are domain veteran Jay Westerdal’s company Top Level Spectrum, Inc. and Donuts.
Donuts previously announced the availability of a global block on all of the extensions it will wind up owning of around $3,000 which would include .sucks if Donuts wins the auction, which looks like a bargain compared to Momentous’ planned pricing.
As for availability it looks like the registry reserved only a handful of domain names from being registered.
This is going to be a problem for ICANN and for the New gTLD program.
While Facebook.sucks, Twitter.Sucks and Microsoft.Sucks can be registered by anyone the domain name Pool.sucks, RobHall.sucks and Momentous.sucks are not available apparently reserved by the registry.
Speaking of Sucks the logo for The Vox Populi Registry Inc. which appears above sucks as the word .Sucks is in white print and doesn’t show up on a white page.
RICO case pending…
And why not? We only need the greater fool theory to keep on going for a few more months 🙂
ICANN should be ashamed of themselves for creating a viable business model out of extortion. This is nothing more than a protection racket praying on TM holders and individuals.
I don’t think businesses are just going to sit by and accept this type of behavior. If this extension becomes a reality then it was probably a good idea for ICANN to set aside tens of millions of dollars in a legal fund. It is very hard to defend an extension like this being in the public interest. ICANN and the registry could eventually be held accountable for their actions.
Brad
What a great business model. Get 1,000 large companies that want to protect their brand for the measly sum of $25,000 and stick 25 million dollars in your pocket.
Bottom line, what a bunch of fucking dirtbags. This will make the domain world look even more like a joke to the general public. Incredible that this is allowed by ICANN. Definitely makes you wonder who has their hands in the till and just like everything I am sure its corrupted from the top to the bottom.
Hey Michael,
I am glad to see that Rob is offering to refund fees to people that pay $250 or $2500 per .sucks domain if they can’t deliver the domains. Donuts and Top Level Spectrum still have a good shot at winning the registry and as such “Vox Populi” will need to refund all their customers. In fact, as the CEO of Top Level Spectrum I personally feel that our company has the best chance to win.
We have not announced pricing yet, but I can say that we don’t agree on pricing in which “Vox Populi” announced and we will not be honoring registrations taken in that system.
This is the “innovation” that ICANN promised would be the outcome of approving new gTLDs. Obviously, ICANN is too busy lining its own pockets with application fees, etc. to care one iota about the negative impact of its decisions on the public. If this doesn’t demonstrate the regulatory capture of ICANN by its insiders, I don’t know what does…..
Legalized extortion – Shameful!
Hey MHB,
You reminded me of the SepticTank.com sale for $15,100 on the Sherpas today. Do you think it was an OK/good/great buy?
I’m a stats guy and I now regret not bidding on it after taking a closer look.
Wow… There’s going to be so much litigation! $25K, lol.
So the .Sucks registry is basically the equivalent of RipOffReport where anyone can post lies about their competitor and even when the competitor admits it, you still have to pay thousands to take it down.
Donut’s plan for a $3,000 global block isn’t exactly all that white hat either. It is basically a “tax” in order to operate your business online. That is if you care about your business and or brand and don’t want people to be able to screw with it.
AdAge and AdWeek have been reporting that major Fortune 500 companies are not going to pay these fees, they’re just going to file suits. http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/brands-facing-dot-com-domain-identity-crisis-148291
ICANN stacked the deck against everyone by allowing thousands of new GTLD’s in at one time. Now, it’s the registries turn, who apparently can’t help themselves and are at least going to try to get away with this crap.
This is exactly what the main stream media love reporting about, “Domain squatters”. I can see the headlines now…
“Don’t want someone to say your business sucks? Well get ready to pay $3,000 to $25,000.”
I can not think of a “legal” business model that will incite more hate and distrust of the domain industry with small and large business owners than what is being planned.
This is so damaging for the domain industry.
Yup, the .sucks TLD is shameful. It is even more shameful that ICANN did not block this extension as there is nothing good to come of it. Oh wait, remember .xxx campaign “protect your brand before someone else gets it.” (it was something right along those lines.) I guess ICANN is totally fine with companies that operate this way. Very sadly, this is going to be the most profitable TLD no matter what pricing model is used. $50. A million companies will pay it. $25,000. A thousand companies will pay it. Either way, it’s easy money for the registry operator, which will have been made in fear. Not in offering anything special or unique.
@ Jay, seriously what’s the model with the .Sucks registry?
Don’t you guys think that as the registry owner you might end up getting hit with a class action suit from thousands of business owners who end up having a competitor register one of these domains?
I don’t think “Free Speech” and the CDA are going to hold up long term.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_230_of_the_Communications_Decency_Act
it doesn’t surprise me that momentous is involved…they are not known for their ethical practices.
@jay: why would you want to win this? do you not see the huge problem with tld?
Sad & Shameful.
Guess this means these also could be added:
.blows
.cheats
.loses
.scams
and more negative .whatevers ad absurdum ad infinitum
Most of these GTLD guys were ripping Rick S about his results, looks like his poll knew what was upcoming in regards to games from these registars, and voted accurately. I would think it solidifies the results… and proves the horse shit pricing out there.. seriously this is corporate extortion, let some idiot register it, and udrp the name, and let it drop, cheaper than registering this crap.
If .sucks ever becomes a reality, ICANN should be abolished and replaced. Those applying for .sucks should be awarded with variations of .DefensiveRegistrationExtortion
O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!
My tables,–meet it is I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;
At least I’m sure it may be so at ICANN.
(with an assist from Shakespeare)
I’ve mentioned before that I have a strong feeling that Frank and the cast and crew at Uniregistry are going to be the big winners. I know nothing of their planned pricing but I have to believe that their teams street cred and experience counts for something.
They have also been very much under the radar in terms of public announcements and avoiding the hyperbole that’s leading up to the public relations fiascoes we’re sure to see.
Some of their strings suck (imho), but I predict that their overall success will surpass 80% of their strings being profitable – and here’s the key part, over the long haul.
Cheers,
This extension and the marketing approach being taken just says it all about most of these new gTLD’s…
@Sean,
“I don’t think “Free Speech” and the CDA are going to hold up long term.” – Sean
So you think established laws and the Constitution are not going to hold up long term?
@cmac,
Providing a label like “sucks” is a great idea. We envision a support departments owning their own brands and being able to address concerns of disgruntled users rather than finding out about the complaint via yelp or some other 3rd party system.
Great idea ? The word Great just got significantly diluted if that’s a great idea. Is it also innovative ?
Do what you like but please don’t dilute the meaning of the word great.
Just to be clear, Top Level Spectrum’s “.Sucks Registry” will not be pricing .sucks domains like “Vox Populi” is proposing. It will not cost anywhere near $25K for a single name during sunrise.
@jay: ….i can picture it now. a wesbite with a huge logo “*brand*.sucks”. sounds like great marketing/branding (sarcasm). how would this offer anything more than what their current support would do? its just another way to leach off brands and corps who are wiling to plunk down a few grand to cover their asses but i very much doubt they will ever be used in the way you describe.
i think i might apply for .isgay so i can fear people into buying their names so people can create websites to tell everyone how they aren’t gay. money in the bank my friends!
I will start the .shit registry and ask big companies to reg their name for 100 000 each. Sounds a good idea! That’s the goal of many newtld owners…
cmac.isgay why not cmac.gay? Yep. let me check. yes, that was applied for. Looks like you get your wish.
Yay.
You still think gTLDs are good for the domain industry?
gTLDs are going to pump millions of dollars into our industry just drug dealers “invest” in poor neighborhoods.
Nice. Great for our reputation.
Anyone, including Jay, loses credibility when they try to defend .sucks IMHO.
cmac: Perhaps the registry for .gay will reserve is.gay, so they can sell those as 3rd level domains…..and perhaps the .sucks registry will reserve 2nd level domains such as:
really.sucks
truly.sucks
etc.
so they can double-dip or triple-dip on the protection money, i.e. selling 3rd level McDonalds.really.sucks and McDonalds.truly.sucks to markholders, as an “added bonus”. 🙂 Once they’ve found a “mark”, they’ll keep finding ways to take more of their money…. 2nd-level domains are just for starters.
I figured I would weigh in quick here, as Jay points out this is Momentous Corporation application and fees they are charging and planning to charge on their site referred in the post.
Donuts also has an application but has not come forward to make any statements regarding what their charges will or will not be so Kudos to Jay for at least making a statement.
As far as Momentous there site says very clearly, if your a trademark holder pay us $2,500 now or pay us $25,000 later.
“”Trademark Holders can reserve now and secure a price of $2,500 to avoid announced Sunrise pricing of $25,000. Trademark Priority registrations will take place BEFORE sunrise””
At a $250 a registration its extortion.
At $25,000 its rape.
I now own voxpopulisucks.com and MomentousSucks.com
LOL!!
@Berkens,
You can’t be half pregnant.
If you’ve noticed, a bulk of my comments on the new gTLD are focused on you, for almost six months now.
Why?
Because you staked our a triangulating position. You’re somewhat of a centrist on them. That makes you dangerous. We don’t want anyone that could be a green snake in a green grass. You are only against these people charging insane prices, but you support them charging crazy ones.
We told you from the beginning that these people went outside the United States, to such places as Argentina (which you attended), Colombia, and Europe, to form a cabal to destabilize the internet with useless TLD proliferation; and we’re only beginning to see the plot.
Fortunately, they’re completely drunk with their scheme. Nobody in their right mind will tolerate their tactics. I couldn’t in my wildest imagination see them being this wicked.
They forget one thing, this is still the United States of America! There’s no way ICANN can be allowed to continue doing this with impunity. They’ve converted to a Cartel. However, states are still sovereign.
.sucks? $25,000?
@Raymond Hackney — the video is hilarious. I love it when the bots talk “dirty” LOL
For the record we are already on the record saying this string a purely for defensive registrations
http://www.thedomains.com/2013/09/21/cadna-costs-of-defensive-new-gtld-registrations-to-be-double-the-total-cost-of-all-com-registrations/
@jay: keep on bullshitting those who you sell to. they probably buy it better than everyone here. there is no good reason for .sucks existing. we’re all in this business for the money but when you lie to us with your smiling avatar as to what your motivation for applying is, that makes you look like an asshole. blackmail and fear pays.
“@Berkens,
You can’t be half pregnant.”
“If you’ve noticed, a bulk of my comments on the new gTLD are focused on you, for almost six months now.”
No I haven’t noticed, I’m slow
Because you staked our a triangulating position. You’re somewhat of a centrist on them.
Yes I’m a centrist
I see that certain new gTLD’s will be very successful, .londonm .nyc, .club to name a few
Not all will be huge winners not all will be huge losers
Wow
How radical of me
I guess I have to pick black or white, good or bad.
So much of life is just like that
Not
So yes reasonable people look at the big picture can figure out where the gold lies and where the shit stinks
At $25K it smells to high heaven
Your argument worked in High School, Oooh your like Karen but Karen likes Bill who mother is a drunk so you like drunk people
Really?
Is this how you make business decisions?
Rob
I never said new gTLD’s were a good thing
Or good for the industry
I just was on it very early
Actually if you read my first year of posts or more I was against the program
That is the great thing about writing a blog, all of your thoughts are on record.
Actually I have critized ICANN all along the way for making poor decisions
I suggested that ICANN not allow more new gTLD’s than existed in the year before so 23 1st year 46 new ones 2nd year 92 third year and so on and so on
However ICANN didn’t go that way.
I said it was a huge mistake for ICANN to allow closed generics and it would be an issue
I said it was a huge mistake for ICANN to allow singular and plural strings like .car and .cars.
Go ahead
look it up its all there
So you fight the good fight but when you on the canvas the the ref is counting and is at 9 you don’t lay there until he says 10, you get your ass up and deal with what you got and try to make money in the new environment
Check my posts from day one you will see that is exactly how it went.
Actually sounds like a great post for me to work on
@Berkens,
That’s what you call being against something on record? I went over the referenced link in September with a fine tooth-comb, and your gentle correction of CADNA typographical errors on defensive registrations could NOT qualify as being against ANYTHING.
If you are indeed against ICANN’s strategies, programs, protocols, et al, point me to where you registered such regarding any of ICANN’s agreements, entente, concordat, convention, deal, pact, contract, compact, anything? You are a trained lawyer.
On the Sherpa show last night, you were brilliant; you cunningly demolished the oft cited .travel argument by citing their use of certification, hence the low numbers, BUT you awkwardly ducked the issue of use by those who got certified. Those are the types of maneuvers that get me irritated! Most people may not notice you dip, dunk, plunge, immerse, submerge, lower, sink to avoid raising that side of it. I happen to know that you are as sharp as they come, so what ever you neglect to bring up, you did so wittingly.
You attend all the Registry/ICANN meetings. You are member of the new organization (with Google, Godaddy and others) claiming to represent the internet. In short, you are an insider at ICANN. Therefore, if you are really against these mistakes, as you say, point me to an official ICANN record where I can see for myself.
@Steven Sikes glad you liked it Steven, thank you for the comment.
@domenclature Mike is not an insider at ICANN he goes to the meetings but everyone posting here has as much right to attend them, its just the travel around the world that keeps many from going but they are free to attend.
December 8, 2008
Mike Berkens wrote:
I urge all of you to do, what I am going to spend some time on today. Review Mr. Kirikos comments take him up on his offer to use some of his arguement and submit my comments to ICANN objecting to these new gTLD’s.
http://www.thedomains.com/2008/12/08/last-chance-to-comment-to-icann-on-proposed-gtlds/
Mike wrote on 12/13/2008
As we wrote a few days ago, Monday is the last day for submitting your comments on the New domain extensions, the gTLD’s, which is an incredibly important issue for all domain holders.
It effects all domain holders because the rules that are applied to the new gTLDs can be used to amend existing contracts for all existing extensions. So even if you have no interest in acquiring any new gTLD domains, you still need to be interested in the contract under consideration.
As we stated in our previous post Mr. George Kirikos of Leap of Faith Financial Service, Inc. generously offered to allow anyone to endorse part or all of his thoughtful and excellent paper on the new gTLDs.
We are making that same offer.
Although we have in our comments, simply adopted and supported many of Mr. Kirikos positions, we have added some of our own positions as well and if any of you who have not commented to ICANN on this issue want to adopt any of our comments please feel free to do so.
So here is our opened letter to ICANN and our submitted comments:
In addition to our own comments which appear herein, we would like to support and endorse the comments made by George Kirikos of Leap of Faith Financial Services Inc. to ICANN posted on November 23, 2008 Mr. Kirikos comments are well founded, and right on point.
We specifically adopt the following positions of Mr. Kirikos, in his comments:
The introduction of new gTLDs by ICANN, will create mass confusion in the public, increase by many fold the already existing problems of trademark infringement, phishing attacks, and increased spam. The new extensions threaten the stability and security of the entire internet.
The only applications that should be accepted by ICANN are those few which will be a net benefit to the broader internet and not just simply because the applicant ponies up $185,000
No contract be approved that would allow for tiered pricing. Tiered pricing has reared its ugly head on several occasions, in the last VeriSign contract and again for the renewal of the .org, .info and .biz contracts.
We also agree and specifically endorse Mr.Kirikos comments regarding tiered pricing where Mr. Kirikos states Due to the equal treatment clauses in existing gTLD contracts, and the removal of price controls, the Base Agreement represents a Trojan Horse that can be used by existing gTLD registry operators to engage in tiered pricing.
As Mr. Kirikos notes the ICANN staff who oversaw the drafting of this base agreement demonstrated either a) utter disregard for the protection of registrants, ignoring the outcome of a debate from 2 years ago when the same contractual flaws existed in the .biz/info/org draft agreements, or b) incompetence for not understanding the interconnectedness of existing gTLD contracts that would be impacted by these new draft contracts, if adopted, or c) both. We agree that this is the equivalent of ICANN staff allowing SiteFinder or other past contentious issues to be in the base agreement, and should be treated as such, namely a grave breach of the public trust.
We believe that this topic should be barred from any contract either in this process or in future consideration of any new or revised contracts.
This issue has been dealt with, discussed and decided. Enough is enough with this already.
Allowing a registry to separately price each domain, on a arbitrary and subjective business, places each domain holder at tremendous risk of losing their domain, based on its own success.
The more successful an online business gets the more value the domain has and by allowing a registry to set a price based on the successful use of a domain, is clearly unfair and punitive to domain holders.
We also agree and specifically endorse Mr.Kirikos comments regarding 1.2.1, that the eligibility requirements appear to be overly broad. ICANN has a history of allowing dubious applicants to become registrars from companies associated with spam or fronts for criminal entities. The standards for entry into the root, a more serious obligation than that of a registrar, should be set much higher than that for registrars. These standards should include at a minimum civil and criminal background checks on its management and major shareholders.
We also agree and specifically endorse Mr.Kirikos comments regarding section 1.2.2.1, that history has shown that open gTLDs (like .biz or .info) have been failures. Open gTLDs should not be permitted at this time, and should be deferred until future rounds.
We also agree and specifically endorse Mr.Kirikos comments regarding section 1.2.2.2, the “Contract Execution and Post-Delegation” that the language must be made stronger. ICANN routinely approves all material changes to community-based applications. This represents a reward for “bait-and-switch” applications, whereby the applicants promise one thing, but then after their applications are accepted, devolve into something very different from what they initially promised. Severe financial and other penalties (including mandatory redelegation or tendering to other prospective registry operators) need to be in place to ensure that applicants live up to their contractual obligations, and not be rewarded for these kinds of games.
We also agree and specifically endorse Mr.Kirikos comments regarding section 1.2.5, that applicants will tweak their agreements to favor themselves, thereby creating Trojan Horses that affect registrants in other gTLDs.
The need for universal standard agreements that cannot be altered except through well publicized long processes with actual written notice to all existing gTLD registrants, so that they can make informed public input, is essential.
We also agree and specifically endorse Mr.Kirikos comments regarding section 1.3, that IDNs can and will be used for phishing, TM infringement, consumer confusion and malevolent purposes. Strong safeguards must be in place to prevent these activities.
We would go further and ask that ICANN consider allowing all valid trademark holders to receive their trademark for each extension for the normal registration cost for each new gTLD.
There is no reason that a trademark holder should have to pay a premium, that is an amount well above normal registration fees, to obtain and protect a trademark.
We have already seen in the rollout of the .me extension many clearly trademark terms sell for thousands of dollars and tens of thousands of dollars to other than the trademark holders.
This is an embarrassment to all those in the domain industry and it is ICANN failure to pass rules to prevent registries from auctioning off trademarked terms, that allowed this to happen.
To date the highest price paid for a .me domain is Toyota. Me for $90,000 to a company with no right to the domain. Moreover several of these .me domains that sold in the thousands of dollars have already been taken in WIPO proceeding.
Allowing registries to sell domains of famous trademarks and keep the profits from the sale, is a basic flaw in ICANN policies, which undermines ICANN credibility and the entire domain system.
If a trademark holder is entitled to a domain, like pepsi.drink, then they should not have to pay a premium to obtain it. It is already costly enough for large trademark holders to pay for all the defensive registrations, without charging them 5x-10x the price of a normal registration.
We also agree and specifically endorse Mr.Kirikos comments regarding the Attachment to Module 2, page A.
This draft contract itself opens up the 2-year old issue of tiered pricing for existing gTLD registrants, due to the lack of pricing controls in these draft agreements.
We also agree and specifically endorse Mr.Kirikos comments regarding the Attachment to Module 2, page A11, the lifecycle of a registration should require the redemption grace period, for the protection of registrants. Currently ICANN has created a mess at the .com and.net level for expired, non-renewed domains. Due to ICANN failure to pass and enforce rules on how a .com or .net, domain should be dropped by a registrar, we have a wild west situation where each registrar has can and has decided what to do whatever they want with an expired domain.
Some registrars, like Tucows.com pick whatever domains they want to keep from their customers expired domains, place them in their own name, without allowing them to drop. Tucows.com by its own admission has obtained hundreds of thousands of domains, by taking ownership of expired domains and warehousing them. Tucows.com has already set up a site to sell some of these domains to the public, Yummynames.com.
Enom.com also appears to have taken expired domains of its customers, placed them into a sister companies name and is selling them through and affiliated site, AcquireThisName.com
Other registrar send their expired domains to either namejet.com or snapnames.com where they are auctioned off to the highest bidder.
Other registrars like Godaddy, hold their own in house auctions, setting different starting prices, going into the thousands of dollars, based on the traffic a domain receives and the earnings of the expired domains on a PPC page owned and operated by the registrar. Included in these domains are many domain which are obvious trademark infringing domains, full of PPC ads containing the trademarked term.
Allowing a registrar to charge a minimum price based on a earnings of trademarked terms, clearly places registrars in the position where they make money off of trademarks. 2 Examples of this, just from the last couple of weeks, are edhardyclothing.com, an expired Godaddy registered domain, which sold on TDNAM.com, for its minimum price set by the Registrar, Godaddy.com ,in the amount of $6,880. The second domain DishNetwork.net (DIshNetwork.com is the official site of the company) sold for the minimum bid of $2,880. In essence Godaddy got paid for the revenue generated from trademarked terms appearing on clear trademark infringing terms.
The wild, wild west situation has one root cause and that is ICANN’s failure to adopt and enforce uniform rules for the expired domains.
Now with new gTLDs there must be clear and unmistakable rules for deleting domains for which the renewal fees go unpaid.
We urge ICANN to take this opportunity to adopt such rules for both the new gTLDs and existing .com and .net domains, that forces all registrars and registries to drop expired domain, after a standardized grace and redemption period so that the domain can be registered on a first come first served basis, or adopt a central drop service which a deleted domain would go to the first person to backorder a domain. A registry or registrar should not be allowed to keep the domains of its customers nor should it be allowed to profit from the sale of trademarked domain names and other expired domains. Each registrar should not be allow to create its own rules on how expired domains should be handled.
Finally we think it’s only fair that ICANN announces in advance if any adult extensions will be permitted, without requiring applicant to pay $185,000 to find out.
We all know the history of the .xxx extension, which was ultimately not permitted and voted down basically on moral grounds, upon the demands of the US commerce Department. If the .xxx extension was rejected on moral grounds ICANN should issue a statement that such an extension or .sex, .porn, .adult, will or will not be allowed. To require many companies to pay $185,000 non-refundable fee to find out ICANN’s policy is unfair and to all applicants and may discourage additional applicant who fear losing $185,000 and therefore do not apply.
This situation has again be dealt with, and the answer is either such extension will be allowed or they won’t.
But of fairness this policy must be made clear, before accepting applications, and 185,000 non-refundable dollars.
We respectfully request that our comments, along with Mr. Kirikos be given great weight in determining the future of new gTLDs and the handling of current extensions.
That is the end of our comments to ICANN. If you wish to comment to ICANN, once again here are the e-mail addresses to submit them to:
gtld-guide@icann.org
gtld-intro@icann.org
gtld-transition@icann.org
@Jay
So you really think that the first amendment applies to something like this?
You think this business model is honoring the spirit of free speech as it applies to the constitution? You’re dishonoring the first amendment when you associate it with anything like this.
There’s a lot of grey area when it comes to slander and this “business”, it’s an open invitation for stupid people to slander one another.
Jay, what’s your policy going to be when the local pizza place registers their competitions name and posts a bunch of fake complaints?
If Sony doesn’t want their domain, are you not going to sell it to anyone else? You really expect us to believe that your organization actually thinks companies will want to be associated with something like this?
“Please come pay us to create a forum for people to complain about your company. Pay us to create a problem for you, that you will need to spend more money on.”
I’m sure these domains will be purchased by end users real quickly….
@Hackney,
So, anyone who endorses the above stunning positions, and who supports Kirikos’ efforts cannot take the positions Berkens has taken. He is only against high introductory prices, by high I mean those in the thousand; not the rest of the issues raised in your two posts. That’s irreconcilable.
For example this “Allowing a registry to separately price each domain, on a arbitrary and subjective business, places each domain holder at tremendous risk of losing their domain, based on its own success.
The more successful an online business gets the more value the domain has and by allowing a registry to set a price based on the successful use of a domain, is clearly unfair and punitive to domain holders”.
One can’t be a centrist on this issue.
@domenclature aren’t plenty of people centrists when it comes to existing alt extensions ? Some people have 80 to 90 % .com but own some .me or .tv or .co.
Once these new gtlds are out they will over time lose the “New” and just be gtlds, like .info and .biz and .pro etc…
@Ojogho
You’re an idiot if you believe even a fraction of what you’re spewing.
@Sean Sullivan you are spot on, its hiding behind the Constitution trying to use it as some shield for what is legalized extortion. Vox may have screwed up more than people realized as this is the kind of thing that gets big companies calling their lobbyists and putting pressure on all kinds of people. The new gtld pandora’s box may have been opened by this $25,000 nonsense.
Vox Populi Registry Inc. is based in Canada, by the way, not the US, according to the ICANN new gTLDs application site. The other 2 applicants for .sucks are based in the US.
I love how the new version of being an entrepreneur is by manipulating consumers. You think the RipOffReport guy gives a shit about protecting consumers?
Vox Populi actually claimed that the price will be high because they don’t make to make them available to “speculators”.
http://www.wired.com/business/2012/06/this-story-doesnt-dot-suck/
So I guess the take away is:
For a limited time, Vox is opening the door to speculators. Pssst, get in quick for $2,500.
I prefer to not bash companies and or people in the industry, no one person or company is perfect. But dammit if this isn’t just about the worst representation of the domain industry we could possibly hope for.
There is no logical argument to be made for this business model, the entire concept and supposed benefit is disingenuous.
@Jay
The 1st amendment to the United States Constitution does NOT “grant free speech” to ANYONE. But that is a common misinterpretation – especially in the U.S. (the only other amendment that is even more misinterpreted is the 2nd one).
The founding fathers assumed that free speech is a natural right. It is given to the people “by their creator” (without specifying that entity).
All the 2nd part of the 1st amendment does is to prevent congress from creating law that would limit this natural right.
The IP constituency will not be happy – as the pricing kind of totally circumvents the RPM’s. They will backlash violently and there will be “collateral damage” that will extend to ALL applicants of the entire program. Whatever we want them to concede too in the future they will just answer with a sneer.
The press will absorb this juicy story and the aftermath will be a general distaste for the entire new gTLD program. Whatever positive imagine we are collectively trying to create – all shattered by this one action.
I think the applicant in question violates the RPM’s – the SR has to be accessible in an nondiscriminatory manner to ALL trade mark holders. To let some of them tap in first would lead to strange side effects. Example: Register a TM “APP@LE” in China, register “apple” in the TMCH, participate in the “trademark priority launch phase”, get the domain before Apple can tap into the “official SR”, resell it to Apple for $US 500k – or/and run a “consumer feedback” page. It is easy to see how this would infringe the RPM’s, no? Albeit: If Apple would be cool they would just ignore it all.
Other “players” will feel encouraged to copy this scheme – which makes all the above points even more worse.
Even if the action would be legal according to Canadian law I think in the interest of the new gTLD spirit the applicant should over-think the concept. No “pre-SR”-SR, prices less than low $US X00 per year (or an explanation what justifies a higher price – but then have the same price in GA as well) in SR, and no “pressure” to register upfront (e.g. “it gets 10 times more expensive if you don’t”).
Maybe I am missing a point here though: Freedom of business?
Do you remember .XXX? Businesses forced to shell out money in order to protect their brands. I’m afraid we’re going to watch the same movie over and over again. It .SUCKS!
Joe
.XXX looks like the buy of the century compared to this deal
.XXX did offer a 10 year block for around $250
This is $25,000 a year.
@Mike
OK, this is a blatant scam, but the the idea isn’t very different: operating a troublesome extension and making companies feel the urge to register their brand before their competitors or detractors do. As stories like this become more and more frequent, this is only going to get the domain industry a worse reputation.
This is ICANN’s mess to clean up. If they do not I have to wonder who will get ICANN.sucks and what will be done with it. It is a no-win situation for them if they do not ban this extension. Either ICANN registers ICANN.sucks and admittingly supports the extension. Or they allow someone else (me) to get ICANN.sucks and use the extension to let the world know how corrupt they have become. Allowing this extension is just supporting a digital mafia.
It’s $25,000 a year?! Lol, this just keeps getting better and better.
You know, what Frank has done so far, that’s smart. That’s the model. With .tattoo I totally get it. It’s creative and niche (a vertical solution) that relies on creativity and personal expression as being the driving force behind the demand for the domain extension. With .sucks, it is fear and the uncontrolled nature that is anonymous commenting about anything on the internet.
Jay, Vox and Donuts are literally investing in a business model that only succeeds if it first makes an already difficult problem to manage, even that much more difficult.
Whomever ends up with domain, here’s the ultimate scumbag move that will most likely be their “business model”.
You’re “X” company or brand. You pay the $25K or whatever it will be each year.
If you don’t… Well guess what will be on Sony.Sucks if Sony doesn’t pay up? A landing page saying it’s available for sale? Not likely.
No, more likely a public forum for people to voice their criticism, valid or not. So what are brands left to do? Just let this wild unrestricted forum for criticism and inevitably slander exist without having some ability to manage it?
This is RipOffReport but via a terrible domain extension. Brilliant predatory business model and precisely what we need to be an example of the future of the new domain industry.
@Jay, how do you go from DomainTools, to this?
Credit to you for having the balls to address any of this publicly, but it is just really surprising that someone who made a fortune from the domain industry with a great product (DomainTools, for those not aware) is literally building a business that can only damage the reputation of it.
Do you think it means anything that literally every single blog in the business who has had an opinion on this, has said that this is bad for the business?
@sean
Top Level Spectrum and Fegistry both applied for a lot of TLDs. We do not endorse Vox, we are in fact competition. We are not pricing our domains anywhere near Vox.
We knew .sucks would be applied for this round and we thought that we would be the best to run it. Because we are a for profit company as well it just make sense.
Jay
So here is an observation I have for you.
Since you are in competition for the extension with VOX and Donuts based on VOX pricing model how can you possibly compete in an auction be it a private or ICANN auction.
If VOX business model has trademark owners spending $25K per domain and everyone else spending $250 and lets say your model is a more traditional $250 sunrise fee (not saying it does) and a under $100 registration fee, then VOX business model would anticipated revenue maybe 100X more than yours, making the string much more valuable to them.
Therefore is seems they would be willing to pay a LOT more than you would or another applicant some not planning on charging $25K per trademark domain or $250 for a regular registration.
@Jay
My point is that it’s an extension that just should not exist. ICANN should have never approved this. It doesn’t matter if Vox charges $25K and you guys charge $25. At the end of the day, this is a “problem business”.
Simply because the .sucks extension will exist, it doesn’t matter if a ™ owner ignores this or actually buys their brands urls, either way this is a problem for them as soon as it launches. So your “business” regardless of what you charge, is just bringing negativity and problems for all of us. This kind of thing trickles all the way down to the consumer. The more companies have to spend money on defending themselves from stuff like this, the less profitable they are. That’s just going to inflate the costs of the things we purchase from them.
Collectively across all of these similar business, all of these similar type of models with monetization that happens as a result of a “forced response” to something being published online, legitimate or not, collectively all of this adds up.
And if you’re a CPG like Proctor&Gamble, J&J and tons of other Fortune 100’s, you’re supposed to do what, pay out for every single product name you own? Coke is paying $25K for Coke, Coke Zero, Diet Coke, Sprite,
Your comment about your group knowing that the .sucks extension was going to be applied for, so that’s why you did it because you’ll “run it better”. That’s like the lesser of two (but in this case three) evils right?
Which pay day loan store should we admire? The one that charges 24%, 27% or 29% a month?
I notice that you haven’t said a word (nor Vox) about your plans for the non ™ side of the business. IE, anyone registering these for generic terms. Because who is really going to register greenbeans.sucks? Nine year olds that don’t like to eat their vegetables?
If its not obvious, this just illustrates that if you didn’t have the hard work, money and time that the ™ owners put into their brands to ride off of, there would be no business here correct?
I just don’t get why intelligent people with literally a complete blank canvas to do something meaningful with, just have to take the road that’s lined with businesses like this and RipOffReport etc.
Whomever ends up with the .sucks extension should be sure to reserve irony.sucks for themselves.
I don’t care the price of the sld. $5 or $25,000 – this is still a mafia that will have been sanctioned by ICANN.
If ICANN allows this extension I will raise a shit-storm over this. I think it is the shittiest thing ever. Does not matter the end user price. It is all about defensive registrations!
Jay, I appreciate what you have done in the domain industry until now. But this is a sinking ship. A LOT OF PEOPLE saw this coming, but ICANN did not. ICANN seems to have let it pass through.
I reiterate… Who will one day own the domain http://www.ICANN.SUCKS
?? Their failure to regulate this extension will have long-lasting implications. This is a TLD that is not delegated!!!
KD
I guess you can own icann.sucks
https://www.voxpopregistry.com/en/search?q=icann