The new domain .xyz, whose managers set the goal of registering one million names in the first year, led the field after a week of open registration, with 82,236 names registered as of yesterday, followed by .club which trailed by 15,000 registrants. However, domain industry experts have serious doubts about the circumstances behind the success.
By late last week it had become clear that a large number of .xyz names were registered via the domain servers of the registration business Network Solutions and its parent companyWeb.com. This fact is surprising because NetSol is famous for charging almost the highest prices among all registrars. Before it began registering .xyz domain names, the company had registered only 1,287 new names in all top-level domains; that number has jumped to 27,000 on the second day of the registration.
Most of the newly registered .xyz names were copies of.com names previously registered by Network Solutions, which strongly suggests that XYZ Registry and Network Solutions struck a deal in which many .com domain name administrators registered via NetSol were given complimentary matching .xyz names.
While the terms of the alleged deal remain unclear and both registrars deny the allegations, the Internet has been flooded with copies of letters received by NetSol customers notifying them that they have received free .xyz domain names. However, experts believe this practice is on shaky legal grounds. Under ICANN rules, there are various options for resolving domain disputes involving .com and new top-level domains. So the “gift” of an .xyz domain name could be a Trojan horse that embroils the customers in legal action related to cybersquatting.
According to Marina Nikerova, Deputy Director General of the Technical Center of Internet, demand for a domain mainly depends on how popular it is and whether people get that the combination of letters they saw in ads or elsewhere is a top-level domain. “You have to make a domain popular and get lots of people talking about it,” Ms Nikerova said. “This is apparently the reasoning behind this promotional campaign to give away free domain names. It was supposed to make the domain popular, to put it at the top of domain rankings with the largest number of new registrants, encouraging even more registrations. At any rate, we’ll know how popular the domain is in a year when the new names will have to be renewed. Our experience shows that free registrations result in a very low percentage of paid renewals, but maybe the .xyz domain will have a better experience.”
