The cosmetics company L’Oreal that got the right to manage new gTLDs .MAKEUP and .BEAUTY does not intend to make the lives of those willing to register names in these domains easier. In has published the registration rules in .MAKEUP domain that as Domain Incite reports are among the most strict and rigid in domain industry. Initially, L’Oreal planned to use the domain exclusively for its own purposes. However, ICANN Corporation denied the right to have so-called closed generic domains (domains that are generally used dictionary words but that are closed for outside registrations).
L’Oreal agreed with ICANN requirements, however, they did everything to make the access to the domains by outsiders as hard as possible. In particular, published rules state that the potential registrant has to prove its relation to the cosmetics industry. While this requirement can be explained somehow, another one seems like an attempt to “shut” all critics. Together with cyber squatting (unfair use of domain names) registration of so-called gripe sites is forbidden in the domain. This is a very vague term that means web pages with critical focus. Therefore in .MAKEUP it's only possible to talk about makeup the same way as about dead people – well or not at all.
From today it starts accepting pre-launch requests, it enters General Availability on October 19th. Rules for .BEAUTY haven't been published yet, but they will hardly be different.
