A bill just proposed in the Hawaii state legislature seeks to require the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to make application for the new gTLD’s of .hawaii, .hi, and .aloha.
One of the TLD the legislature is requiring the state to apply for .Hi isn’t even available to be applied for under the Guidebook so if they make application for it, they will basically be throwing their $185K away.
Here is the bill in part:
“SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers is expanding the realm of generic top-level domains, such as .corn, .gov, and .org, to include new domains. The application window for new generic top-level domains opened on January 12, 2012, and closes on April 12, 2012.”
“The fee for an application for a domain is $185,000 while the annual expense affiliated with a domain is $165,000.”
“It is imperative for the State of Hawaii to claim the .hawaii, .hi, and .aloha domains to prevent the misappropriation of those domains and potential damage to the State’s reputation.”
“The purpose of this Act is to:
(1) Require the department of business, economic development, and tourism, in cooperation with the State’s chief information officer, to:
(A) Apply to the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers for the domains .hawaii, .hi, and .aloha
the era of right of the dot has begun.
and
.Co
is your new King of the land.
.hawaii is also protected. Nobody can get it without Hawaii/US permission.
Why would they care about the 185k? It’s not their money. Tax payers will be paying for it.
The phrasing of this bill sounds like someone is intending to apply for .hawaii or .aloha for profit. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear if a local company approached the state about applying for it and now someone in the legislature wants to make sure the state applies to knock out any potential competitor.
Kate
Kevin comment above is right on and the new gTLD .Hawaii could only be approved if the state of Hawaii signed off on it.
So like with any Geo TLD you must have the express permission of the jurisdiction.
You’d think they’d have consulted with someone a little more knowledgeable about the new TLD program before doing that. That’s what’s becoming worrisome lately – seeming more and more politicians who have little understanding of how the web works trying to pass laws governing it.
Wow.. I went to college in Hawai’i (HPU) and find this hysterical.. Who’s he to say that the tax payers should put up $185,000 for a domain venture that will, perhaps, not even take off?
The nerve of some people ….
Sounds more like someone got into the pakalolo and now is obsessed with getting .high (since .hi isn’t gonna fly)
What Box? applied for the .hawaii trademark
Maybe the state was approached and decided that rather than ‘signing off’ on the deal, (and signing away most of the profits to a private company) it would be better to take control themselves.
Hi Mike, Business models we have developed at Dot Advice have annual fees/ costs far far in excess of $165000
There is still so much lack of understanding by government ,companies about the gTLD programme- and the application window closes 29 March for deposit/ Q1-11 – with no Round 2 agreed.
Lawyers are going to have a field day .
Phil
If your going to operate a for profit registry then its a business and your going to have marketing/advertising costs, employees, travel offices etc so your right $165K isn’t much.
Of course you have the $25K to ICANN and the fees to the backend provider before you start.
But the potential rewards are great.
You can sell one reserved registry domain for $165K if you have the right string
“.corn” domains ? Is Verisign now a mill ?