The ICANN Board has finally decided to exclude the possibility of holding bidder auctions in the next Round of the New Domains Program. At the first stage, such auctions were used quite widely, and as a result, many companies used them solely for enrichment. The fact is that, according to the rules of these auctions, the amount offered by the winner was distributed among the losing bidders for the domain. And companies submitted bids for obviously “tasty” domains with the sole purpose of losing the auction and getting a tidy sum from the winner.
This practice caused a lot of criticism, and its abandonment seemed almost a foregone conclusion, but it has only been officially formalized now. More precisely, it has not even been formalized yet: the ICANN Board resolution on this issue will be prepared and published in the coming weeks, Domain Incite reports. However, the Board Chair, Tripti Sinha, notified the Board of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) in her letter that the corresponding decision had been made.
Thus, if several applicants apply for the same domain, its fate will be decided at an ICANN auction at the upcoming stage of the new domains program, with all proceeds going to the corporation's budget. Such auctions during the first stage of the program brought in a considerable amount and allowed ICANN to create a special fund, from which the grant program will now be financed. Also, part of the fund's funds may in the near future be used to provide subsidies to applicants for new domains who do not have sufficient funds to support their applications.
Another interesting piece of news is that ICANN will allow applicants to include a "backup" domain in the main application. Companies or organizations will be able to "switch" their application to it if it turns out that the main domain they are applying for is of interest to other participants and will be put up for auction. Previously, a lottery option was considered among the methods for choosing a winner from several applicants for one domain. However, it was rejected because ICANN is registered in the state of California and could have faced legal problems, as the state's laws are very strict regarding the organization of gambling, which, theoretically, could include any lottery.
