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The most contested names are App (13 applications), Inc (11), Home (11), Art (10), Shop (9), LLC (9), Blog (9), Book (9), Movie (8), and Music (8). Just because an application is unique, it may not be successful - applications are subject to a public comment and objection process and "a rigorous, objective and independent evaluation system" according to ICANN senior vice president Kurt Pritz.
"Asia Pacific was a little under-represented" among applicants, said Adrian Kinderis, CEO of ARI Registry Services. Despite being home to over half the world's population, he observed that only around 15% of the applications were from the region.
Mr Kinderis pointed out that while iiNet has applied for .iinet, neither Telstra nor Optus have applied for their names. Telstra is seeking Yellowpages, however. And while the AFL has joined the MLB (Major League Baseball), NBA and NFL in applying for the corresponding gTLDs, nobody currently wants the NRL or EPL (English Premier League) domains. But Football is being contested by European-based dot Football Limited and US-based Foggy Farms LLC.
Australian universities are notably present in the list. Bond, La Trobe, Monash and RMIT have applied for the corresponding domains, and Open Universities Australia has applied for Courses as well as Open. These universities see the new gTLDs as "a branding opportunity" according to Mr Kinderis. "They've seen this just as a business [does]."
Melbourne and Sydney are being sought by the governments of Victoria and New South Wales as geographic gTLDs.
Page 2: Banks, cars and Google - and your chance to object
