.CLUB Signs Registry Agreement with ICANN
(PRWEB) November 11, 2013 -- .CLUB Domains, LLC, the company formed to own and operate the new “.CLUB” generic top-level domain name (gTLD), announced today it has signed its Registry Agreement with ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the international organization responsible for managing and coordinating the Domain Name System (DNS).
“This has been a long, stressful, and emotional process for myself and the team at .CLUB,” said Colin Campbell, CEO and founder of .CLUB. “We are so excited to have signed the agreement after more than two years of hard work. From the beginning we had only one focus – to help people who have similar passions and interests come together, and to create a new social top-level domain that makes it easy for companies, individuals and communities of all kinds to brand themselves with a great domain name.“
The process to acquire a new top level domain requires applicants to pay a fee of $185,000, but for the more popular names, the process gets more complicated, as was the case with .CLUB. The applicants are required to resolve contention if more than one party applied for the same name and endure a long vetting process by ICANN, and the Government Advisory Committee (GAC), who has representatives from over 50 countries. “The entire process is a `Hunger Games’ style fight with only one company standing at the end of the day,” added Campbell. “To date we have already spent more than $5 million on a private auction, legal fees and market awareness campaigns.“
The company was one of the first to participate in a historic private auction beating other companies including California-based Donuts, an applicant that has stated they raised over $100 million and registered 307 applications, and Merchant Law Group of Canada who registered 8 different names. .CLUB only applied for one domain name.
With the ICANN agreement signed, .CLUB is preparing to execute resale agreements with registrars like GoDaddy, Network Solutions, and Webnames.ca among others. Of those registrars who have been taking pre-orders over the past several months, the .CLUB extension has consistently ranked among the Top 10 or most popular extension to be applied for, making it the first top level domain to come to market that has mainstream appeal.
In addition, the company expects to sell domains like poker.club, chess.club, and wine.club after completing a sunrise period, which allows companies with trademarks first rights to their names. “.CLUB is global brand, which has so many different meanings for so many people,” said Campbell. “Whether you are an academic club, sports club, social club, business club or fan club, you will be able to find a great domain name that represents your group.”
Formed in 2012 and backed by $8.2 million from 26 private investors including Canadian entrepreneurs William Campbell and Dirk Bhagat, .CLUB will enable clubs, membership organizations or others sharing a common interest to establish memorable “yourname.club” Web addresses. Every day, people form communities and groups around every imaginable interest, and .CLUB makes it easier than ever for them to acquire a Web address that is convenient, holds meaning and has marketing value.
About .Club Domains, LLC
Led by Internet entrepreneur Colin Campbell, whose prior successes include Tucows Interactive and Hostopia.com, .Club Domains, LLC was formed for the purpose of becoming the .CLUB gTLD registry. Fully understanding the inherent marketing value of a .CLUB domain for any membership organization, .CLUB is also building a comprehensive social platform for club management. .CLUB is a one-stop shop for clubs of all sizes to secure a great domain, grow club membership, improve member engagement and reduce management costs. By combining an easy to use web services platform with a top level domain based on a globally recognized term, .CLUB is “the easiest way to find, join or start a club.” More information and pre-registration of .CLUB is available now at http://www.dotclub.com.
Bridgette King, Get The Scoop, Inc., (954) 937-9616, [email protected]
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