The .fox Dot Brand
News Corporation's
Fox businesses operate a wide variety of digital, film, TV and music
entertainment & publishing ventures which impact billions of consumers
around the world. Examples of Fox enterprises include Fox International
Channels which have over 1.1 billion subscribers, the Fox Broadcasting
Network which reaches around 99% of US TV households and sites such
as FoxShop.com, FoxSports.com, FoxNews.com and FoxMovies.com which have
hundreds of millions of visitors.
The Applicant
specifically cites domains like Sports.fox, News.fox and Movies.fox
it plans to implement.
The proposed
.fox extension will provide a trusted destination for online services
and content driven by innovation and differentiation. It will be easier
for consumers to find legitimate Fox branded premiere content. The TLD
will also grow the company's reputation.
The intended
mission and purpose of the .FOX TLD is to serve as a trusted, specialized,
hierarchical and intuitive namespace for the iconic and world-famous
FOX brand and associated goods and services.
The .fox
TLD will also be a useful resource for Fox businesses to use internally.
It will be a secure source for distribution of copyright material. And,
it will be a valuable resource for innovation in the arena of "ever-changing
trends and opportunities in furnishing online content, products and
services".
The inclusion
of the keyword 'fox' in every single domain name will most likely have
a positive effect for "global promotion purposes".
Fox intends
to foster experimentation and offer "unique proprietary user experiences".
The Applicant
(and affiliate entities) own thousands of trademarks and domain names
in 178 countries.
Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation owns over 5,000 FOX-formative domain
names in nearly every available gTLD and ccTLD. These domain names
and their associated websites are visited by hundreds of millions
of consumers globally each year. The FOX brand, trademarks and domain
names are invaluable assets and serve to identify the FOX Businesses
as a trusted source of the highest quality goods and services globally.
NOTE: ccTLD
= country code top level domain
The Applicant
will proceed cautiously with a careful analysis of consumer, business,
technical and security factors, and "has not yet committed to or
excluded any potential uses".
Projected
applications of the TLD include subject matter (eg. Movies.fox), Station
names (WOFL.fox), properties (XFactor.fox), characters & personalities
(MargeSimpson.fox), products (DVDs.fox) and internal resources (Legal.fox).
A long term goal for the TLD is for it to have the same recognition
and trust that is enjoyed by the .edu and .gov domain strings.
Fox believes
that the new TLD will help acclimatize consumers to a new category of
destination on the internet, adding velocity to a new phase of expansion.
The Applicant
will proceed cautiously with development. Communication and outreach
will provide the opportunity to study feedback, conduct market research
and understand consumers' desires. The goal is to use its "substantial
and world-class marketing capabilities and significant consumer promotion
channels to inform the public about the TLD..."
Applicant
will initially conduct consumer marketing and technical research to
determine the most effective and safest way for it and the Fox Businesses
to use the .FOX TLD. During this initial period, Applicant anticipates
that it will make limited use of the .FOX TLD.
The .fox
extension has the potential to protect the company's intellectual property
from piracy and other online crimes. The TLD "Creates a namespace
void of piracy, cybersquatting and other malicious activities."
Fox intends to maintain the highest possible level of security to protect
its businesses and customers, and "will strive to be known as an
exemplary cyber-citizen".
Due to
the widespread and severe level of online content piracy, many of
the FOX Businesses have extensive experience in Internet security
issues, and have a vested interest in maintaining the highest levels
of online security... ...The absence of corruption, spam, phishing,
piracy, and false information will protect consumers...
 Geographic
Dot Brands
The Applicant
will initially reserve from registration within the .fox TLD names with
national or geographic significance at the second level (left of the
dot). These names are defined in Specification 5 of the New gTLD Registry
Agreement, for example, two-character country labels and geographical
names on the ISO 3166-1 list.
Fox anticipates
that it will seek permission to use various geographic domains in the
future. The application cites part of the Registry Agreement which states
that agreement should be reached with "the applicable government(s),
provided, further, that registry operator may also propose release of
these reservations, subject to review by ICANN’s Governmental Advisory
Committee and approval by ICANN".
Fox will
strive to minimize any possible consumer confusion regarding the source
or affiliation of any such geographic domain and strive to comply with
various local laws of those regions. The aim is to provide "information
about andžor offering Applicant's and its Affiliates' goods and services
directly to the customers or potential customers from the relevant country
or territory indicated by the domain name."
The possibilities
of the global impact of the .fox TLD are immense.
FOX International
Channels develops, produces and distributes over 350 pay-TV channels
in 35 languages across Latin America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East
and Africa, reaching over 1.1 billion viewing subscribers worldwide.
FOX International Channels also owns and operates the .FOX Networks,
a global online ad sales house.
Possible .fox Brand
Domains
Home.fox
News.fox (specifically named in the application)
Sports.fox (specifically named)
Movies.fox (specifically named)
TV.fox
Cable.fox
Games.fox (specifically named)
TwentiethCentury.fox
Music.fox
Programs.fox
Comedy.fox
Avatar.fox (specifically named)
X-men.fox
Notes
Brand
names mentioned on this site are registered trademarks or trademarks
of their respective corporations. This site claims no association
with or endorsement by any of these corporations and their marks are
mentioned only to illustrate opinion presented in the public interest.
All quotations
on this page are from the respective companies' official ICANN brand
TLD applications unless otherwise stated.
Many possible
theoretical dot brands are mentioned (in English). There are also countless
possibilities in other languages. This has significant potential value
for international navigation.
This site
is focused on reporting the strategic impact of the brand domains on
internet communication, competition and commerce, and some comment is
speculative.
It is not
a comprehensive overview of what some of the world's largest corporations
have chosen to reveal about their plans for the implementation of their
proprietary domain strings.
ICANN is
particularly concerned with the technical, financial, security and legal
issues associated with the new TLDs. These issues are beyond the scope
of this website.
For a comprehensive
overview of the brand domains and their impact on the web, refer to
ICANN's website and the individual applications (large parts of which
are publicly published).
If you
have a particular interest in an individual company, the public aspects
of their applications are available for download via these ICANN links:
You can also search a complete list of applicants there.
ICANN
new gTLD applications
ICANN
official website
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