Name.Space
 | |
| Type: | Public |
| Industry: | Internet |
| Founded: | 1996 |
| Founder(s): | Paul Garrin |
| Country: | USA |
| Website: | Namespace.us |
| Key People | |
| Paul Garrin, Founder Alex Mashinsky, CEO Al Vazquez, CTO | |
Name.Space was founded in 1996 by Paul Garrin, for creating Top Level Domains to supplement shortages under the limited availability of .com, .net, and .org gTLDs. The company was an early proponent of a shared TLD registry system and was the first self-automated, self-service registry.[1]
The company was the first to provide URL forward services for customers and the first to create a domain and IP information meta-search engine that issues Smart Whois queries for TLD listings. It was also the first to offer a user-controlled DNS zone editor, which enables customers to manage and update their own domain name to IP address mapping and email routing.[1]
Name.Space & ICANN
Since 1996, Name.Space has been operating hundreds of gTLDs in an alternate DNS root system. In March 2012, the company claimed ownership rights to numerous gTLDs, including contested ones under ICANN's new gTLD Program, including .shop, .nyc, .sex, .hotel, and .green, as well as "tens of thousands" additional domain registrations in its alternate root. It also claims an additional 482 strings in the ICANN root zone too,[2] and Name.Space CEO Alex Mashinsky has stated that "These names predate ICANN. They don’t have authority under US law to issue these gTLDs to third parties."[3]
Name.Space applied for 118 ICANN gTLDs in the initial "test-bed" round in 2000, which produced .biz, .info, .name, .museum, and other gTLDs. It was not selected for any of the 118.[3]
In October 2012, Name.Space filed a lawsuit against ICANN for trademark infringement and anti-competitive behavior, hong for an injunction that prevents ICANN from delegating the 189 gTLD strings Name.Space claims rights to. It also alleges that the new gTLD process is dominated by "ICANN insiders" and "industry titans", thus preventing fair competition for smaller businesses.[4]
The company's complaint states, "Rather than adopting a procedure to account for the pending 2000 Application and facilitate the expansion of TLD providers in the DNS, ICANN has adopted a procedure so complex and expensive that it once again effectively prohibited newcomers from competing. It instead has permitted participation solely by ICANN insiders and industry titans."[4][5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 About Name.Space, Namespace.us
- ↑ Complete TLD List, Namespace.us.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Company claims ownership of 482 new gTLDs, DomainIncite.com. Published 22 March 2012.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Company files for an injunction against 189 new gTLDs, DomainIncite.com. Published 12 October 2012.
- ↑ Name.Space Complaint. Published 10 October 2012.