.web

Infobox Top level domain
name=.web
background=#D2B48C


introduced=Not in official root; run as a prospective registry since 1995
type=Proposed top-level domain; alternative registry domain
status=Run as a prospective registry and proof of concept; has been attempting to get into official root since founding; still has pending application before ICANN
registry=Image Online Design
sponsor=Image Online Design
intendeduse=For Web sites of all sorts
actualuse=Some have registered names speculatively in the hopes it eventually makes it into the root and existing registrations are preserved
restrictions=None; however, new registrations don't seem to be being taken at the present time
structure=Registrations are directly at second level
document= [http://www.icann.org/tlds/web1/ Application to ICANN to be admitted to root]
disputepolicy=UDRP
website= [http://www.webtld.com/ The .web registry] |

.web is a generic top-level domain operated as a prospective registry, not in the official root, by Image Online Design since 1995. It originated when Jon Postel, then running the top level of the Domain Name System basically single-handedly, proposed the addition of new top-level domains to be run by different registries. Since Internet tradition at the time emphasized "rough consensus and running code", Christopher Ambler, who ran Image Online Design, saw this as meaning that his company could get a new TLD into the root by starting up a functional registry for it. After asking and receiving permission from IANA to do so, IOD launched .web, a new unrestricted top level domain.

Since then, IOD has tried to get their domain into the official root, through several plans to admit new top-level domains. Several new-TLD plans in the late 1990s, including Postel's original proposal, failed to reach sufficient consensus among the increasingly contentious factions of the Internet to admit any new TLDs, including .web. When ICANN accepted applications for new TLDs in 2000 which resulted in the seven new domains added soon afterward, IOD's application was not approved; neither was it officially rejected, however, since all unapproved applications remain in play for possible future acceptance. A second round of new TLDs, however, was done entirely with new applications, and only for sponsored domains (generally intended for use by limited communities and run by nonprofit entities). The .web registry remains hopeful, however, that their application will eventually be approved. On May 10th, 2007, ICANN announced the opening of public comments towards a new, third round of new gTLDs, a round in which IOD has indicated that it intends to participate.

At times IOD has claimed priority rights to the TLD string .web, although any legal basis for such a claim is questionable given that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has stated that top-level domains are not trademarkable in themselves. IOD does, however, have a registered trademark in the term "web." When, at various times, proposals were made to add a .web domain not operated by IOD, they have objected, and to date, no such plans have been approved; an application by Afilias to operate a .web domain was turned down in favor of their running .info instead. Vint Cerf, then chair of ICANN, noted that he recognized IOD's pioneering work in .web, and felt that .web should be held in reserve for IOD's application in the next round rather than be awarded to Afilias, preferring that they receive .info instead.

The IOD .web registry has in the past accepted registrations, and intends to allow them to continue in force after entering the root, although some commentators feel that ICANN ought to require them to discard existing registrations and proceed with a startup procedure as with other new TLDs, so as not to grant any legitimacy to unofficial registrations.

External links

* [http://www.webtld.com/ The .web registry]
* [http://www.icann.org/tlds/correspondence/iod-v-core-22jun00.htm Court ruling dismissing case where IOD asserted rights over .web - the case was dismissed when the CORE memorandum of understanding was rejected by the United States, rendering their attempt to take .web moot.]