As a member of ICANN’s Business Constituency I have heard first-hand the perfectly appropriate criticisms from trademark holders of ICANN’s roll-out of new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs). But while it may be OK for branded companies to wish they didn’t have to deal with the matter, the dust that has been kicked up has obscured real value in the program.

The new gTLDs give us the chance to create global marketplaces based on communities of interest. Think about it. For a city promoting tourism, visitors no longer will need to troll thatcityhotel.com or thatcityrestaurant.net or thatcitytransit.ca. It can all be assembled at .thatcity. The metaphor is even more powerful for active, global communities that could rally around domains like .golf or .art or .music (yes, I know there is a group working on that one!).

There are plenty of mechanisms in place to deal with those who would seek to lever a brand they do not own. The community can agree to more if it chooses; the structure is in place for that, too.

But to paint the launch of a host of new gTLDs with a tar brush of trademark criticism is to ignore the chance to create new global markets based on communities of interest.

I am a believer in brands and community.

Please Note: This post was originally published on Feb 12, 2009 on CircleID.

Today, most the world still turns to the domain names ending in (dot)com when they navigate the Internet.  Looking for a particular shop or product or place?  Type it in your browser’s address bar…and add, (dot)com.

Whichever came first, the dominance of the (dot)com name or the instinct to use it, the outcome is the same.  Sometimes we get where we want to go, sometimes we don’t.

It is this instinct for direct navigation that drives trademark holders nuts.  They don’t own all the domain names that can be made from the letters of those they do.   There is money in mistyping.

The expansion of new gTLDs will change all that.  It will weaken the hold (dot)com names have on the collective Internet and cause a shift in behavior from direct navigation to search.  Yes, search.

The more successful the new gTLDs, the more likely the “g” will no longer mean “general,” but Google instead!

Despite the perfectly appropriate criticisms from trademark holders of ICANN’s roll-out of new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs), there is no denying the potential market power of opening up vast new tracts of Internet real estate.

Even while it may be OK for branded companies to wish they didn’t have to deal with it, the dust that has been kicked up has obscured real value in creating new commercial and community districts on the Web.

The new gTLDs give us the chance to create global marketplaces based on communities of interest. Think about it. For a city promoting tourism, visitors no longer will need to troll thatcityhotel.com or thatcityrestaurant.net or thatcitytransit.ca. It can all be assembled at (dot)thatcity. The metaphor is even more powerful for active, global commercial markets that could rally around domains like .golf or .art or .music (there is already a group working on the last one!).

We are believers in brands and community.