Home › Blog › March 2011

.COme on Now

Thu, 03/10/2011 - 12:00 — Josh Bourne

The debate over .CO – whether it can be a viable alternative to .COM or if it is just a gimmick – continues. For example, Overstock.com, the popular online retailer, recently introduced the new O.co domain name, but is billing it as a “shortcut” to the Overstock site rather than a standalone brand.

While reading the TechCrunch blog, I recently came across another example of a company using .CO for an interesting purpose. Go2 Media is a service that connects mobile publishers, local audiences and advertisers through content and location-based advertising. It owns the domain Go2.com and uses it to host its consumer-oriented site. However, the company does not own Go2Media.com – this domain is registered to a Korean man and has no content other than a link to DomainCA, a Korean domain registrar.

Instead, Go2 Media owns and leverages Go2Media.co for its business-oriented site, where it hosts information for publishers and advertisers. What likely happened was, the company saw that Go2Media.com was already registered, and sought a solution. But instead of attempting to reclaim the domain Go2Media.com through UDRP (a search on UDRPsearch turned up no filings over that domain) or other means, the company chose to register Go2Media.co as an alternative. When push comes to shove, though, Internet users in the U.S. are conditioned to affix .COM at the end of Internet addresses, and as such, Go2Media.com receives traffic – undoubtedly visitors seeking the company, not some Korean squatter’s site. At the end of the day, .CO is not a substitute for .COM.

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Tue, 05/03/2011 - 09:35 — Penny wise

You paint with a broad brush

To label the Korean man as a "squatter" based soley on the fact that he registered the domain name in advance of another party is a poor reflection on you
The fact is he may have a legitimate use for the domain
Do go2 have a registered mark in Korea
Is the registrant on call to be aware of every mark in the world
Your leap to a conclusion based on assumptions is totally unjust as is your characterization of the Korean registrant

Thu, 03/10/2011 - 13:35 — Juan

Just a thought...

I'm scratching my head over your conclusion Josh.

When:

Substitute = a person or thing that takes the place or function of another

And,

"...instead of attempting to reclaim the domain Go2Media.com through UDRP ... or other means, the company chose to register Go2Media.co as an alternative."

Then,

".CO is not a substitute for .COM."

If anything, you just proved it's a fine alternative.

That said, your point is well taken that we (along with any other TLD operators) have a massive consumer awareness challenge in the US that needs to be tackled.

We are going to keep working on that :)

Juan

Fri, 03/11/2011 - 16:26 — Josh Bourne

Re: Just a thought

Thanks for your note. However, my point is that while some companies might view .CO as an alternative to the .COM (if their .COM is unavailable, as was the case with Go2Media.co), that doesn’t mean it is actually a VIABLE alternative. So, as I wrote, while “the company chose to register Go2Media.co as an alternative” the fact is that “Internet users in the U.S. are conditioned to affix .COM at the end of Internet addresses” and Go2Media ends up losing its traffic to the .COM it doesn’t own.

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