The new domains on the horizon
June 19th, 2012 in Development, Websites by Brad Einarsen
Last Wednesday, June 13, ICANN released the new global top-level-domains that have been requested. When reading this post remember that each application represents a $185,000 investment up front for the evaluation fees and the infrastructure to maintain the DNS services so these are not trivial investments. Even with the high bar the number of applications has exceeded expectations. We downloaded the full list and have been analyzing it to gauge the impact for healthcare marketers.
Here are some of the pharma and healthcare groups who have registered names with notes.
Pharmaceutical
| Company | Domain | Competitors | Notes |
| Abbott Laboratories | ABBOTT | 0 | Its current name and the future name for its R&D based spinoff. |
| Abbott Laboratories | ABBVIE | 0 | |
| Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG | BOEHRINGER | 0 | |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb Company | BMS | 0 | |
| Eli Lilly and Company | CIALIS | 0 | Lilly is the only pharma company that is registering one of its brands |
| Eli Lilly and Company | LILLY | 0 | |
| Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Co.,Inc. | HISAMITSU | 0 | |
| Merck KGaA | MERCK | 1 | It looks like Fairwinds Partners is actually the US Merck bidding against the Merck Group (MGD) in Germany |
| Merck KGaA | EMERCK | 0 | E. Merck KG is the major shareholder of Merck KG |
| Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation | MTPC | 0 | |
| Pfizer Inc. | PFIZER | 0 | |
| Sanofi | SANOFI | 0 | |
| Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited | TEVA | 0 |
Health Insurance
| Company | Domain | Competitors | Notes |
| Aetna Life Insurance Company | AETNA | 0 | |
| WellPoint, Inc. | ANTHEM | 0 | Wellpoint’s acquisition of CareMore Health Group for $800 million is still top of mind for the company |
| WellPoint, Inc. | CAREMORE | 0 | |
| AARP | AARP | 0 |
Not for Profit Associations
| Company | Domain | Competitors | Notes |
| American Heart Association, Inc. | HEART | 0 | A little bit surprised there is no competition here |
| American Heart Association, Inc. | STROKE | 0 | |
| National Association of Boards of Pharmacy | PHARMACY | 0 | Very surprised there is no competition here, apparently the online pharmacy business isn’t as lucrative as previously thought |
Is Merck US Bidding Against Merck Germany?
The only pharmaceutical company that has multiple bids for its name is Merck. A little investigation turns up the following facts:
- The company that registered the competing bid for .Merck is FairWinds Partners
- According to the website, FairWinds provides gTLD consulting services for global firms to the tune of 135 applications for 51 firms including pharmaceutical companies Abbott and Eli Lilly
- With so much experience creating applications for US pharmaceutical companies it is unlikely they would attempt to “squat” on .Merck
- Merck US has already been accused of hijacking the Facebook vanity URL of Merck Germany (side note, Merck was broken up at the Treaty of Versailles, neither company currently owns it, Merck KG is reportedly suing Facebook over the matter)
The only question really is why does Merck US feel it necessary to avoid stepping forward and putting their name on the application? The full story will come out during the comment and dispute phases. You can see current comments on the ICANN site.
Some gTLD Fun Facts
- 1930 applications for gTLDs have been made
- The ICANN has collected at least $350 million in fees
- There is a growing concern that the US control of internet infrastructure will make it biased (see also Foreign companies be warned, the US controls .com)
- The domains with the most competition are:
- APP: 13
- HOME: 11
- INC: 11
- ART: 10
- BLOG: 9
- BOOK: 9
- LLC: 9
- SHOP: 9
- DESIGN: 8
- MOVIE: 8
- MUSIC: 8
- CLOUD: 7
- HOTEL: 7
- LOVE: 7
- LTD: 7
- MAIL: 7
- NEWS: 7
- STORE: 7
- WEB: 7
- BABY: 6
- CORP: 6
- CPA: 6
- GMBH: 6
- LAW: 6
- NOW: 6
- ONLINE: 6
- TECH: 6
- VIP: 6
Does any of this surprise you? What do you think will happen in the comment and dispute process?
KlickWire
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