The .nike Dot Brand

Nike, Inc sells quality footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories in more than 170 countries. Nike branded products are produced in more than 800 factories around the world. There are almost one million workers in Nike's contract supply chain.

Nike produces a wide range of sport and leisure wear and is the world's largest seller of athletic footwear & apparel. Internet interaction and sales (which it refers to as "Direct to Consumer" operations) are key operational factors. Content is currently broadcast in a variety of traditional generic domain extensions such as .com, .net, .mobi and many cc (country code) TLDs such as .cn and .in.

The "Nike" trademark is famous, distinctive and valuable and represents a very significant level of goodwill, globally. This is a result of the company's extensive sales & marketing efforts. The trademark is officially registered in many countries. Continual protection of the integrity of the brand is paramount.

Nike has invested millions of dollars in advertising and promoting the NIKE Mark and has sold billions of dollars in merchandising under the Mark...

...The fame and reputation symbolized by the NIKE Mark has been developed, in part, through Nike's extensive efforts to rigorously protect its NIKE Mark.

Nike believes that its proposed .nike extension will provide an "online single source-identifying location for its current and future customers". The TLD will also be useful to general internet users, investors and the media, and will serve as a trusted and intuitive namespace. Navigation will be streamlined by using short and memorable internet addresses. The TLD will be an integral part of the company's strategy of using emerging technologies to achieve its aims.

At time of application, Nike did not consider there had been enough time (or available market insight) to fully evaluate the potential of the .nike string. The company intends to analyze general market adoption of the brand domains to determine both short- and long-term best use options. Nike is already aware that with the growth trajectory of new channels such as mobile devices, there is an opportunity to create an innovative virtual avenue to online content that might "deepen and broaden its relationship with consumers".

While ICANN has not specifically recognized the dot brands as a separate domain class, Nike anticipates that the brand domains will come to be seen as such. Nike views its string as a .brand TLD and will deploy it to promote and protect its identity and online presence.

As a branded gTLD, the primary driving factors of the .NIKE gTLD are differentiation and innovation.

The Applicant also carefully notes that the driving factor in securing the .nike TLD is "precautionary in nature".

Nike has a flexible four stage plan to rollout the TLD:

1. Register a limited number of second level (left of the dot) domains. These will be used for technical testing to ensure seamless and secure operations, interoperability etc.

2. Widespread internal corporate use. Develop and evaluate strategies to potentially migrate traffic from existing domains to the new TLDs. Consider extending registration rights to licensees & partners.

3. Depending on evaluation of Stage Two, migrate online content over to the new .nike string and extend registration to select associates. The Applicant expects that domain registrations in the first five years will be less than 10,000.

4. Further assessment of its business plan and expansion strategy in light of the view that the collective impact of the .brand domains will likely take at least five years to be realized. It is even possible that registration rights might be extended to approved customers.

Ultimately, Nike will measure the success of the .nike domain in terms of increased consumer recognition and trust. At time of application, Nike considered that there were uncertainties about the adoption of the new gTLD program, the response of search engines, and "unanswered questions concerning consumer recognition".

If the results are promising, Nike will commence a broader initiative which may include ads, media outreach, in-store communications, email campaigns and other programs.

Nike intends to create a "trusted online environment for consumers to access Nike's online content". Nike branded websites will form an authentic and verified ecosystem where users can access genuine Nike information and make purchases from a trusted marketplace. Consumers will quickly appreciate that brand domains such as .nike are owned and fully controlled by their respective corporations. This will generate a public interest benefit.

Most importantly, Nike expects to be able to provide access to its online content in a namespace devoid of piracy, cybersquatting, and other malicious activities. Providing consumers with a trusted experience is paramount to Nike and the .NIKE gTLD will be used to further that goal.

Nike and its TLD registry services provider Neustar, Inc agree that they must act as stewards to protect the integrity of the .nike namespace in the public interest. Privacy will be protected. Any possible abusive or malicious domain activity such as fraudulent actions, spam, phishing, malware distribution, fast flux hosting, botnets etc will be eradicated as far as is possible. In particular, Nike wishes to prevent piracy and counterfeiting and the new TLD will assist with this goal.

Geographic Dot Brands

Nike is aware that geographic terms are presently restricted from registration as described in Specification 5 of the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook.

The Applicant has studied relevant background material that references these terms. This material includes an ICANN resolution about the release of country names in the .info domain space and a report by the Reserved Names Working Group of ICANN's Generic Names Supporting Organization.

Nike will initially reserve from reservation names on the ISO 3166-1 list and lists developed by a UN Working Group and a UN Group of Experts.

NIKE, Inc. ("Nike") is keenly aware of the sensitivity of national governments in connection with protecting country and territory identifiers in the Domain Name System (DNS).

Nike currently uses geographic identifiers in existing traditional domains (such as NikeCanada.ca and NikeChina.cn) — intuitive domains that help users to easily navigate to their desired content. This is clearly in the public interest. Its prior domain implementations demonstrate "fair and non-misleading use of geographical identifiers by Nike".

The company sells products in more than 170 countries. Hence it believes that its new brand TLD has great potential to provide new and logically named locations that are valuable to customers. Nike looks forward to collaborating with other .brand domain applicants to work with the GAC to develop a process to permit the use of geographic .nike domain names.

Possible .nike Brand Domains

Sport.nike
Apparel.nike
RunningShoes.nike
JustDoIt.nike
Shop.nike
StoreLocations.nike
Quality.nike
Swoosh.nike
Basketball.nike
Golf.nike
Accessories.nike
Timepieces.nike
Tech.nike

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

TERMS, CONDITIONS, DISCLAIMER AND COPYRIGHT NOTICE. No part of this website may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without the express written permission of the copyright holder. The right of David Tyrer to be identified as the author of this work is asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The Brand Domains site (www.thebranddomains.com) shall not be re-transmitted, repurposed, printed, lent or otherwise circulated in any printed or electronic form without the written permission of the copyright holder, and shall not under any circumstances have these conditions waived for any recipient. The artistic integrity of the work contained herein may not be altered or repurposed in any way, shape or form without the express written permission of the copyright holder. This site contains links to other sites outside our control or ownership. No responsibility is taken for any action or advice you may take from these sites or from any of the information presented by these pages. The Brand Domains bears no relationship with some third party advertisers displayed on this site. Display of those advertisements does not constitute endorsement, recommendation or association with them. Any references to any trademarks or service marks are not our responsibility and not under our control. Information on this site is presented on an "as is" basis in good faith only and as such Click as a Flash makes no warranties regarding the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any of the material provided. We cannot be held liable for any errors, inaccuracies or omissions in the material presented on this site or its links, nor for the consequences of acting on any information that may be presented, which may have changed or be out of date. We cannot be held liable for any financial or any other damages that may occur from accessing, relying upon or using any hypotheses, opinions, investment advice, commercial advice, ideas or concepts presented here. No information presented here should be construed as legal advice. Content of this site is well-intended opinion and hypothetical speculation only and should not be construed as legal or expert advice. No warranty is given regarding the accuracy of this site and any information used is at your sole risk. No liability whatsoever is accepted with the exception of any that may be required under Australian law. Any brand names mentioned on this site are trademarks or registered marks of their respective owners. Any use of these marks on these pages is purely speculative and hypothetical and any discussion of those marks and/or companies is purely opinion expressed in the public interest. Terms and conditions are subject to change without notice. Copyright in some images resides with istockphoto® and these photos are used under licence. All data, images, text, videos and audio are presented for viewing purposes only. No part of the data, images, text, photos, art, audio, logos, movies or trademarks or any other content may be repurposed, copied, saved, resold or reproduced in any way without written permission. Click as a Flash's registered Australian Business Number is ABN 62 188 088 529. © David Tyrer 2013-14 All Rights Reserved.