In case you couldn’t find it on ICANN’s site
Gathered here for ease of access are materials from ICANN relevant to applying for a new TLD. There is a voluminous amount of material on ICANN’s site, but it is not always easy to locate.
ICANN’s Guide to Applying for a new TLD
- ICANN’s mini-site devoted to new gTLDs
- The latest (but not final) Applicant Guidebook (Sept. 2011)
Additional Supporting Materials
- Explanatory Memo on Morality and Public Order (Nov 2010, 36 pages, 904KB).
- Explanatory Memo on New gTLD Program Budget (Oct 2010, 456KB)
- Description of Independent Objector for Dispute Resolution (Feb 2009, 4 pages, 93KB).
- Delegation Rate Scenarios (Oct 2010, 12 pages, 77KB).
- Summary of the Impact of Root Zone Scaling (Oct 2010, 14 pages, 957KB).
Related Materials
- ICANN’s Similarity Algorithm, a.k.a. “Sword Algorithm.” Excessively expensive software that evaluators will use to see if your proposed TLD conflicts with others. Current version doesn’t work well. ICANN has said (Nov 26 2008 teleconf) that it is only an “aid” to evaluators, so humans will verify the results.
- New gTLD Interactive Process Flow. (Aug 2009) Flash diagram on ICANN’s site. Useful for a beginning overview of the application process.
- ICANN Application Timeline. (Nov 2010, most recent publication). A continually changing exercise in optimism.
- Final Report of the Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT). ICANN asked the people from the intellectual property/trademark group to come up with their own rules since they didn’t like anything that the rest of ICANN was proposing.
- Summary of Proposed Rights Protection Mechanisms (Feb 2010)
- Rights Protection Mechanism: Proposal for Trademark Clearinghouse (Feb 2010)
- Trademark Protection: Uniform Rapid Suspension (Feb 2010)
- IDN 3 Character Requirement (Feb 2010, 148KB)
- IDN Variants (Feb 2010, 160KB)
- Second-level Reserved Names (Oct 2008, 28 KB)
Other Useful Materials from ICANN
- Current Registry Agreements for all existing gTLDs.
- Former Registry Agreements for all existing gTLDs.
- Registry Services Evaluation Policy. Defines registry services and describes the process for requesting approval of new registry services.
- Registry Services Evaluation Process. Shows registry services requests from existing registries and whether they were approved or not.
- Registry Services Workflow. Flowchart showing process for approving new registry services.
- The GNSO Calendar. Find out what’s happening when. Also transcripts and MP3s of meetings and discussions.
