The Standing Committee of the International Centre for Expertise at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has dismissed the objection filed by the US Entertainment Software Association (ESA) against Amazon’s application to run the .game top level domain name (TLD).
Amazon is not the only applicant. There are six applicants for .game, but ESA only went after Amazon because its application proposes operating the domain as a “closed” registry. This means that other companies would be unable to register second level .game domain names.
The community objection filed by ESA, which includes Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard and Disney Interactive Studios, reads that Amazon’s application infringes on the rights and legitimate interests of the video game publishing community. ESA’s objection was dismissed because it focused on the video game publishing industry rather than gamers.
Panelist Prof. Dr. Guido Santiago Tawil said that he searched for “game” on Amazon.co.uk and found results for board games, trivia games, puzzles, travel games, etc. along with video games. Therefore, ESA’s argument that Amazon’s application infringes on the rights of the game community is not valid.
Moreover, ESA cannot speak on behalf of the game community because it is not limited to the producers and fans of video games. However, Amazon would be wise not to celebrate victory too soon. The other applicants for .game include such serious players as Google, and so the game is not over yet.
