Amazon's Bid For New .Amazon Domain Thwarted By Actual Amazonians

Amazon's bid to control a new global top-level domain called .amazon has hit a snag.

A group of South American countries, including Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Uruguay, don't think any company should be able to trade on the .amazon top-level domain name. At a meeting in Durban, South Africa, earlier this week, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) agreed, rejecting Amazon's application for .amazon, according to a report from The New York Times.

In Amazon's application with ICANN, the company says owning the .amazon top-level domain would allow it to "provide a unique and dedicated platform for Amazon while simultaneously protecting the integrity of its brand and reputation."

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Earlier this month, the South America countries sent a letter to ICANN explaining why they think corporate ownership of .amazon shouldn't be allowed.

"In particular '.amazon' is a geographic name that represents important territories of some of our countries, which have relevant communities, with their own culture and identity directly connected with the name," the countries said the letter, as reported by The New York Times. "Beyond the specifics, this should also be understood as a matter of principle."

Amazon is also bidding for the rights to 40 other new top-level domains, including .cloud, .deal., .mobile, .music, .search and .secure.

Many other companies, organizations and countries are bidding on some 2,000 new top-level domains, which will expand the Internet beyond its traditional .com, .net, .org and .edu extensions.

At this week's meeting, ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee approved the first four top-level domains, all of which are foreign script words: The Chinese word for "game," the Russian words for "Website" and "online," and the Arabic word for "Web".

As noted by The New York Times, ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee could change its mind about .amazon, and Amazon is hoping it does.

"We're reviewing the GAC advice and we look forward to working with ICANN and other stakeholders to resolve these issues as the process moves forward," an Amazon spokesperson said Friday in an email.

ICANN didn't respond to a request for comment on the .amazon ruling.

PUBLISHED JULY 19, 2013