.ltd
| Status: | Delegated |
| country: | International |
| Registry: | Donuts |
| Registry Backend: | Donuts |
| Type: | Generic |
| Category: | Commerce |
| nTLDStats | |
| Registrations: | 118,646 |
| Parked Domains: | 204,392 |
| Parked Domain %: | 100 % |
| Important Dates | |
| Delegation: | 23 September 2015 |
| General Availability: | 22 June 2016 |
More Information: 
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.ltd is a gTLD delegated to the Root Zone in ICANN's New gTLD Program. Donuts manages the gTLD and its registry. Donuts remained applicant for the string after an assumed private auction in Summer 2014. The string was successfully delegated on 23 September 2015[Delegated Stings]
Current Applicant
- Donuts (Over Corner, LLC), has applied for 307 TLDs. This applicant submitted a Public Interest Commitment, which can be downloaded here.
Former Applicants
- LTD Registry, LLC - This application was WITHDRAWN. It was the first applicant to leave the contention set.
- C.V. TLDcare - WITHDRAWN; the second applicant to leave the contention set, May 2013.[1]
- Afilias
- STRAAT Investments (NU DOT CO LLC), the parent company of .co Internet is an applicant for the domain name string. It is one of the 13 new gTLDs applied for by the company with ICANN. Neustar has been selected by STRAAT Investments to provide back-end registry services for the TLD. [2]
- myLTD GmbH - This applicant submitted a Public Interest Commitment, which can be downloaded here.
- Dot Registry LLC - The TLD failed its initial evaluation in June 2013 due to its responses to the financial questions in the application; it requested and passed extended evaluation.[3]
Private Auction
In Summer 2014, all applicants withdrew their applications save for Donuts, who now remains the only applicant for the string. The withdrawn applications are due to an assumed private auction or deal in which Donuts payed the other contestants for rights to the string.[4]
Objections
Jeff Bullock, the Secretary of State for Delaware, has raised concerns about new gTLD applications for .inc, .corp, and .ltd. He believed that the applications do not adequately safeguard consumers, businesses, the public at large, state regulators, or the internet itself from the gTLDs being potentially used for fraudulent or misleading purposes.[5] Delaware's lenient company laws make it the state US corporations are most registered in.
References
- ↑ Afilias Dumps Mail Bid and Three Other New gTLD Withdrawls, DomainIncite.com Retrieved and Published 15 May 2013
- ↑ Parent company of .Co Internet applies for 13 top level domains. Domain Name Wire. Published 2012 June 12.
- ↑ Four Failures and 92 Passes in Latest New gTLD Results, DomainIncite.com Published & Retrieved 17 June 2013
- ↑ Donuts Wins .ltd gTLD Contest by Kevin Murphy, DomainIncite; Retrieved 15 Aug 2014
- ↑ Delaware secretary of state opposes any corporate-themed new gTLDs. Published 2012 September 21. Retrieved 2012 November 13.