Amazon can't own .amazon domain name

[Alexander Turcic]

I could wax poetic here about the meaningfulness of the new generic top level domain names (gTLDs), but I will not waste my breath nor your time. It's interesting to note though that Amazon just failed to turn their brand name into a domain. According to Greg Bensinger of the WSJ Blogs:

Late Tuesday, a committee of the nonprofit organization overseeing the Internet’s top-level domain names (the ones after the final dot in a website name), recommended against allowing “.Amazon” to be controlled by the Seattle company. [...] ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee recommended against Amazon taking control of the domain, perhaps in part because of objections from Latin American countries served by the Amazon River, said Nao Matsukata, chief executive of domain-name advisory firm FairWinds Partners, who is attending ICANN's meeting in Durban, South Africa.

For reference, this is how Amazon justified owning the .amazon domain:

The mission of the .AMAZON registry is:

To provide a unique and dedicated platform for Amazon while simultaneously protecting the integrity of its brand and reputation.
A .AMAZON registry will:

• Provide Amazon with additional controls over its technical architecture, offering a stable and secure foundation for online communication and interaction.
• Provide Amazon a further platform for innovation.
• Enable Amazon to protect its intellectual property rights.

[...]

The .AMAZON registry will benefit registrants and internet users by offering a stable and secure foundation for online communication and interaction.

Don't feel too sorry for Amazon though. The application list shows that Amazon submitted applications for 76 gTLDs, and they still have a chance to "win" such domain generics as .kindle, .read, .store, .dev, or .news.

[image source: Flickr]

[pholy]

Perhaps there will be a general prohibition against commercial ownership of geographic names (Patagonia was also denied). That seem like a reasonably good principle to me. I'm sure the people of Washington state would be unhappy if Blackberry took over .cascades, for example.
Looking at .book, .news, or .reader, I'd say that generic nouns and verbs should be off-limits as well.

[WT Sharpe]

ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee recommended against Amazon taking control of the domain, perhaps in part because of objections from Latin American countries served by the Amazon River, said Nao Matsukata, chief executive of domain-name advisory firm FairWinds Partners, who is attending ICANN's meeting in Durban, South Africa.

That section sent me on a trip down Memory Lane. Remember this thread?

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

That section sent me on a trip down Memory Lane. Remember this thread?

Well, it's true, with our support of e-books, we do our best to protect the rain forest. No more cutting trees please.