Brands need protection at a reasonable price.
The VP of domain product marketing for MarkMonitor, a company that assists companies with brand protection, raised an interesting subject: predatory pricing by the gTLD Registries.
Elisa Cooper is urging brand owners to appeal to ICANN, so that the hefty bill paid during Sunrise registrations is lowered substantially.
According to the current modus operandi, gTLD domain Registries often charge 10 times as much than the price of the general availability for domains, and as much as 50 times in some cases.
Apparently, ICANN has no oversight over this, and there’s nothing that can be done from a contractual perspective, hence the push for brand owners to appeal directly to the Registries.
An interesting twist: According to Rubens Kuhl of NIC.br, ICANN charges Registries $5,000 dollars per annum, to utilize the Trademark Clearing House that brand owners then use to block or manage their brands in advance.
A very interesting debate on the subject of brand protection and gTLD pricing during the Sunrise period; more details can be found at the World Trademark Review article.
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It is obvious that neither Ms. Cooper of MarkMonitor nor the author of this post know what predatory pricing is. It is when a company charges low (possibly below cost) prices to drive away or deter competition, not about charging high prices. Nevertheless, Ms. Cooper’s implicit solution to such monopolies seems to be some kind of regulation.
Alex – That’s too deep, lighten up, it’s only Sunday.