According to the Domain Incite online source, Johnson & Johnson has decided to part with its .BABY domain. ICANN records show that the .baby registry contract was assigned to XYZ.COM LLC, the registry of the largest new top-level domain .XYZ, from November 19, 2018.
This makes it 12 gTLDs in the XYZ.COM LLC registry portfolio including .XYZ, .COLLEGE, .RENT, .SECURITY, .PROTECTION, .THEATRE, .CARS, .CAR, .AUTO and .MONSTER. The latter was acquired from Monster.com a couple of months ago, meaning XYZ.COM is making a business out of buying up new top-level domains.
Johnson & Johnson Corporation decided to give up .BABY four years after winning an ICANN last-resort auction, beating off five other applicants and paying more than $3 million.
.BABY has about 600 domains under management after almost two years of general availability and retails for about $80. According to the rules established by Johnson & Johnson, the registry could refuse registration of any domain that did not appear to fit within its family-friendly mission. However, the rules did not seem to be strictly observed – for example, in January 2018, the domain name realdonaldtrump.baby was registered, which obviously has nothing to do with family values. And, judging by which domain names are registered in other domain zones managed by XYZ.COM LLC, one should hardly expect that the rules of the .BABY domain will be better upheld.
Johnson & Johnson also manages the brand .JNJ top-level domain, which has about 100 domains in its zone.
The Russian top-level domain .ДЕТИ, which targets children and family users and imposes strict requirements on the registered domain names and content posted on websites in this domain zone, has about 1,200 domain names. Its registry, Smart Internet Foundation, carefully monitors the quality of the content of the .ДЕТИ domain zone.
.ДЕТИ performs primarily a social function – it is a safe space for children and teenagers, which parents can safely let even small children use. It was established from the start as a non-commercial project that our society needs. The Smart Internet Foundation views support for .ДЕТИ as an important mission and would certainly like to see such children's domain zones appear all over the world, where children and their parents would feel comfortable and safe. I hope that the new registry of the .BABY domain will retain its focus on family values,” said Irina Danelia, Deputy Director of the TLD .RU/.РФ Coordination Center, Deputy Director of the Smart Internet Foundation.
