This year, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) launched a round to apply for new “dot Brand” top-level domains (TLDs).

For the first time, ICANN allowed brands, organisations, and geographic regions to apply for their own TLDs such as “.NIKE” and “.PARIS” to go alongside existing TLDs like “.COM” and “.INFO”.

There were almost 2,000 applications submitted, and many of these new TLDs will be in operation beginning later in 2013, and while the focus on these domains is to bring new levels of innovation to the Internet, some concerns have come to the fore.

While the media has mostly referred to these domains as “dot Brands,” they probably should be referred to as “dot Anythings”. While that is a somewhat clumsy word, the idea is that these domains will serve a variety of purposes beyond letting companies have their own branded TLDs.

IDNs

Of the world’s seven billion people, almost 35% are Internet users, and almost 50% of those users are in Asia and the Middle East, places where non-Latin languages are in general use.

For that reason, “dot Anythings” include TLDs in any language, such as Arabic, Chinese or Devanagari. These domains are called Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) and are represented by characters other than the traditional ASCII characters (“a” to “z”). Finally, users can “surf” fully in their native tongues.

If ICANN hadn’t allowed this round of “dot Anything” applications, these scripts might have remained unrepresented on the Internet, cutting off a large proportion of the world’s population.

Generics

Generic “dot Anything” domains like .BEER or .BEAUTY allow new ways to categorise and find content on the Web. However, some parties have remarked that ownership of generic-term TLDs will bring a monopolisation of the online market.

In theory, owning a generic TLD gives major advantages to one brand over another.

Should generic terms — which are considered by some people as publicly owned property — be used as domains that are controlled (and possibly limited) by specific brands? For example, will a .BOOK TLD owned by Amazon lead to a colonisation of the online book market?

This is by no means a new issue. It has been a long, ongoing concern for second-level domains (the word to the left of the dot as with examples like “beauty.com” and “book.info”).

A cursory look at trademark databases will show that many generic words — like “beauty” —have already been allowed to be registered as trademarks. “Beauty” itself has been a registered trademark in the USA since 1996.

As far as online market monopolisation, critics argue that ICANN is offering corporate heavyweights, like Google and Microsoft, the opportunity to increase their market share by being able to use generic “dot Anything” domains like .BOOK.

These critics should reconsider their position.

Allowing major brands access to these types of domains may seem unfair…but what is the real objection: their use of a generic TLD or the company’s dominant share of the online market?

These companies are the top players in their fields for a reason: they’ve built the best product. If someone comes along with a better product, people will purchase goods from that company, regardless of what TLD they use.

Change is good

dot Anythings, no matter of what variety, also help solve issues that have made the Internet sometimes feel like the Wild West.

Counterfeiting has been a continual plague in the ecommerce market for decades. dot Brand domains are particularly important in rectifying this because they allow consumers to know they are getting the “real deal” when buying luxury goods.

As an example, a consumer will be safe buying a pair of Tiffany earrings from “.TIFFANY”.

dot Anything domains also carry benefits like increased security, a more user-friendly experience and the potential for personalising customer Web pages.

While change is always daunting, the reality is that the Internet needs to accommodate its billions of users. Objectors to new TLDs are preventing the much-needed evolution of the Internet.

So rather than concentrating on concerns about dot Anything domains, we need to acknowledge that the Internet is changing…and now is the time for companies, whether they have applied for a new TLD or not, to make sure they understand these changes so that they can provide a better online experience for their customers.