FairSearch Tries to Ground Google’s gTLD Applications

March 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment

The FairSearch coalition has filed objections with ICANN over Google’s application to acquire generic top level domains.

gTLDs

gTLDs (photo – icann.org)

Google has filed applications for more than 100 generic domains. The FairSearch objections are specifically related to the fly, search and map domain applications.

FairSearch claims a monopoly on these generic terms would give Google an unfair advantage. The coalition includes companies that have had their clocks fairly cleaned by Google in the search marketplace.

One of the FairSearch members is Microsoft. Google’s application for the search domain could badly hurt Microsoft’s attempts to make inroads on Google’s search monopoly.

The billions spent on the Bing launch will go down the drain. Let’s not forget the cost of their search alliance with Yahoo. It created what is now known as the Yahoo! Bing Network.

Quite a few FairSearch members are from the travel industry. Expedia, TripAdvisor, Kayak and Hotwire are members. Google has been encroaching on their turf in the past few years.

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Their main complaint is about Google’s acquisition of ITA Software. This company’s travel booking solutions are indispensable. Google has released a number of travel products on its sites. Travelers can directly book from Google Search and Google Maps.

Google is also trying to get its hands on the fly and map generic domains. This would be one more nail in the coffin for online travel companies.

Google would get to decide who gets websites under these generic top level domains. Google could push map and search traffic to these sites. The rest would have to pay to play.

FairSearch also claims that Google would be able to access data on all websites under these generic domains. Competitors would be denied this access. This would give Google another unfair advantage over the competition.

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A Lawyer, the Pope and a Domain Name

March 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment

The title sounds like a lame joke, but this story about the newly minted Pope Francis and his soon-to-be domain name is no joke.

Pope Francis

Chicago lawyer Chris Connors represents whistleblowers in his legal practice. He purchased the domain popefrancis.com in 2010.

You can call it divine inspiration, but Connors bought the domain in the hope that Chicago Cardinal Francis George would someday be anointed as the Pope.

He was right about the next Pope being named Francis, except that this was another Francis.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and the name he took was in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, who led a simple life helping the poor.

Let’s consider the odds that were stacked against a new Pope named Francis. This is the first ever Pope chosen from the Americas. Not to mention the fact that the name Francis had not been taken by any Pope in the last 2,000 years.

If Connors had decided based on these odds, he would rationally have concluded against buying the domain. But it was just a “couple of dollars” on GoDaddy, and he was motivated by the enticing prospect of hoping to see Chicago’s Cardinal become a Pope.

Connors has decided to hand over popefrancis.com to the Vatican, and is not asking for any compensation. This despite the fact that he was been contacted with offers for the domain.

Pope Francis related domains are selling like hot cakes, with Godaddy getting more than 100 “Papal” domain registrations in the first 10 minutes after the new Pope was named. Within an hour, the number of newly registered Pope Francis domains had jumped up to 479.

None of these hundreds of domains is going to attract anywhere close to the impact and publicity generated by Connors’ purchase. It shows that being first in line still counts in the domain business, coupled with a bit of luck and maybe some heavenly assistance.

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