The .honda Dot
Brand
Founded
in 1948, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. is a group of 382 companies with almost
180,000 employees. It conducts business in more than 50 countries and
manufactures motorcycles, automobiles and power products. It also has
diverse activities in other fields such as aviation, marine and financial
products.
The .honda
TLD is intended to become a "supporting branding, technology and
services platform for The Company's mission and its businesses".
It will enable Honda to communicate more effectively and easily with
customers, employees and partners, thus benefiting internet users. It
will provide a great opportunity to build upon that interaction with
all stakeholders.
The .honda
string will provide opportunities for greater promotion and improved
navigation to Honda content. Navigation will be more predictable. The
Applicant cites examples such as "geographicnames.HONDA* for locations
of The Company's localized websites (and) function.HONDA for websites
related to that company function...".
* NOTE:
See below for info about geographic terms.
...a
user who first sees an advertisement for product.HONDA may later directly
navigate to search.HONDA to search for other products of The Company.
Customers
will have a more distinctive online experience. The intuitive architecture
of the .honda string should reduce their reliance on search engines
to find relevant content.
The .HONDA
Registry will provide an Internet space, under the control of The
Company, to allow for the distribution and exchange of information
among The Company and its stakeholders by means of, but not limited
to, websites, social networks, email and other technologies...
The Applicant
anticipates that registration of .honda domains will be limited to the
company itself for around three years, after which affiliates may be
allowed to utilize names under strict contractual conditions.
Honda currently
has more than 450 names in its domain name portfolio. The 'Honda' brand
is registered in around 178 countries and jurisdictions. The .honda
extension will improve brand recognition and thus enhance the group's
marketing activities. It will also help the company to have greater
control over its online brand image and operations.
The Company
anticipates having an ample supply of relevant domain names available
for its use, which will assist in marketing all of The Company's products,
delivering products and services, and developing new services.
Until now,
acquiring new and relevant domain names has been complicated and expensive,
often requiring purchase from a third party on the aftermarket. Honda
anticipates gaining good dividends from having access to an "ample
supply of immediately available, inexpensive domain names".
Today,
it is often difficult to find a relevant and easily available domain
name from existing registration providers. Even if one is found, often
pricing is prohibitive because the domain name is only available on
the secondary market.
Honda provides
an insight into the underlying blueprint of its naming conventions:
...For
example, geographicnames.HONDA for locations of The Company's localized
websites, function.HONDA for websites related to that company function,
product.HONDA for websites related to that product.
Honda intends
to use leading-edge technologies and business practices to build its
brand TLD into a highly effective online branding and services platform.
The TLD will reinforce the company's ideals.
Accessing
the platform will be a positive experience for visitors. A key aim is
to leverage the infrastructure and marketing to encourage deeper user
interaction. The Applicant also anticipates unforeseen benefits to emerge.
The branded
nature of the TLD will serve as a differentiation force, as a distinctive
name space that simplifies users' choice... ...many users more likely
will be able to directly navigate to intuitive domains and subdomains,
saving time and resources from first accessing a search engine.
Because
there will be many new brand domains launched by major corporations,
Honda expects consumers to clearly recognise them at the top level of
the domain name system, just as they can distinguish them in the bricks
and mortar world of business.
The .honda
string will incorporate robust trust and security features. Advanced
technologies will be used to ensure the security of transactions and
communications online. Privacy and confidentiality will be protected.
There will be specific prohibitions against all kinds of illegal and
fraudulent activities such as phishing, pharming, spam, malware, defamation
and so on.
The Company
intends to provide a safe and legitimate Internet space, enhancing
user experience by mitigating security-associated risks.
 Geographic
Dot Brands
To comply
with Specification 5 of the New gTLD Registry Agreement, geographic
names will be restricted from registration in the .honda TLD. Honda
will develop a comprehensive master list of reserved country and territory
names based on the ISO 3166-1 list (including the European Union) and
the UN Group of Experts list in the Manual for the Standardisation of
Geographical Names.
If and
when Honda wishes to deploy reserved geographic terms, for example Britain.honda
(which will require ICANN's approval) a special release mechanism has
been developed.
This mechanism
will be consistent with a previous system which allowed for geographic
names to be released in the .info TLD. The GAC will be presented with
the opportunity to object to and prevent the use of such country names
to comply with ICANN rules.
Since the
.honda string will be used to represent the company's brandname, it
is "almost impossible to anticipate any abuse or misconduct".
If any name is ever deemed to be confusing or offensive, Honda as a
responsible global company will be very keen to remedy the situation
without delay.
Generally,
it is extremely unlikely that The Company's authorized use of any
countryname.HONDA or cc.HONDA domain name could be confusing to users,
or otherwise offensive to any country.
NOTE: cc
= country code
Possible .honda
Brand Domains
Cars.honda
Motorcycle.honda
Electric.honda
Racing.honda
Accessories.honda
Marine.honda
Robotics.honda
Asimo.honda
Acura.honda
Civic.honda
Environment.honda
OwnerLink.honda
Search.honda (specifically named in the application)
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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