Imagine a diplomatic war between two countries, all because of a domain gTLD.
That’s what it looks like for dot .Tata, an application for a new gTLD, made by Indian automotive company Tata.
There is nothing wrong with a company wanting to set their own footprint on the Internet via the registration of a corporate gTLD.
The dot .Tata application, however, received an objection from an African country, over an apparent geographical term, Tata.
A province in Morocco shares the same name and the application was blocked.
The Tata region in Morocco has a population of 15,000 inhabitants (2004 census data), making it a protected geographic name.
Morocco has written a letter to ICANN that it may want the .Tata gTLD name for itself. Meanwhile, Tata Motors owns .TataMotors, quite lengthy but more descriptive.
It might take a sizable investment by Tata Motors within Morocco, to end this blockade, according to The Sunday Standard.
Tata Motors also wants .Tata for its corporate domain.
Tata is one of the most respected global business groups with revenue of $110 Billion where as GDP of Morocco is $105 Billion. The Tata Group employs more than 6 million people.
Tatamotors is automotive division of Tata group, so .Tata would be the most preferred choice for them to represent their businesses.
NewDomainer – So what? Amazon Q2 earnings were $30 billion, and ICANN refused their application for .Amazon, thanks to the rain forest by the same name.
Tata doesn’t have the most stellar reputation among Indians, I’m told.