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Canon Goes After '.canon' Top Level Domain, Might Reshape URLs

by Terrence O'Brien on March 17, 2010 at 04:05 PM

ICANN, which governs the world of Internet domain names, has relaxed the rules governing the issuance of top level domains (TLD) such as ".com" and ".net." The new rules allow individuals and companies to purchase a custom TLD, and Canon has decided it wants to be among the first to grab a piece of the pie. The camera king has announced that is has applied to purchase the TLD ".canon." This would grant the company the ability to hand out e-mail addresses and Web sites that end with ".canon" instead of ".com." The company didn't announce any plans or intentions for the domain, but it's safe to assume that part of the impetus for filing was simply to stake its claim on the Canon name.

Companies have expressed concern that protecting their brands in the era of custom TLDs may be prohibitively expensive -- thanks to the $25,000-a-year registration fee and the $185,000 initial application fee. Then, there are the potential bidding wars, which could drive prices up into the millions of dollars.

These concerns clearly haven't given Canon any pause. Now it's just a "wait-and-see" game to find out how many other companies follow suit. [From: Canon, via: Daring Fireball]

Tags: canon, icann, tld, top, top level domain, TopLevelDomain

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