TLD's ill-conceived?
At $185,000 a pop plus annual renewal and fees per subdomain registration, champagne corks were flying in Playa Vista. With this particular spat, Americans will potentially own .vin and .wine via Donuts who registered these plus a few hundred TLDs. The argument seems to be about whether they're appropriate to manage the wine industry's online presence. Donut's model is simple:
"Brand owners can add their trademark-related terms into the DPML and have them blocked from registration at the second level in all Donuts-top-level domains (Donuts TLDs). DPML protects trademarks holders against cybersquatting at a fraction of what it would cost to defensively register the terms in Donuts TLDs."
Assuming you've paid $150 a year to the "Trademarks Clearing House" to register your trademark, you can then register your TM with Donuts for 'protection' (a higher fee if it's a premium brand) or pay more to register the domain. And if you don't pay, it may get cybersquatted. Naturally there are some concerns about these proposals, especially when some of the things parts of the industry want to protect aren't trademarks. Especially when things like champagne aren't always trademarks, and the US wine industry has long wanted to be able to produce domestic champagne rather than just sparkling wine.