It seems that the confusion with the new gTLDs .WINE and .VIN has come to an end. As it was reported earlier, last week the status of these domains on the official ICANN webpage were changed from “On Hold” to “In Contracting”. Now the reasons for this change are clear.
Earlier on many countries with strong winemaking traditions as well as representatives of the European Union in the ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) opposed the delegation of the domains. They pushed for special conditions for registrations of domain names that contain names of famous mine-making regions. This article wasn’t added to the registration agreement because there was no consensus among GAC members. However, winemakers were determined to defend their interests till the end and even get to court.
To the mutual satisfaction of all parties involved the registry managed to escape such turn of events. Lawyer David Taylor of the international law firm Hogan Lovells, that was hired to represent winemaking regions, reported that last week winemakers made a private deal with Donuts that is operating .WINE and .VIN. This is the reason why the complaints that prevented the execution of contracts for new gTLDs with ICANN were withdrawn.
Taylor refused to disclose the details of the deal between winemaking regions and Donuts. He only pointed out that the agreement is a “victory for the wine community (consumers and producers) and ultimately the new gTLD program.”
