Amazon wins battle for .amazon domain extension over indigenous peoples

By MixDex Article may include affiliate links

Ecommerce giant Amazon has been granted the rights to the branded “.amazon” domain extension despite resistance from South American countries.

• Amazon has been fighting for the rights to the .amazon extension since 2012.
• The branded top level domain extension in question will allow Amazon to create custom domain names ending in “.amazon”
• For example, it might use “books.amazon” to direct users to the book section of its website.
• However, the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization objected to the name being assigned to Amazon (the company), instead saying the name, which is a river and widely used regional name as well as name of indigenous peoples, should not be controlled by a private company.
• Amazon has already said it will reserve a domain for ACTO and each of its eight member states — so, presumably, brazil.amazon, for example, would be set aside for Brazil’s use, perhaps for tourism or other uses.
• In addition, Amazon has said it will avoid using .amazon domains that are significant to the culture of the region.
• However, Amazon’s original application for the domain indicates it intends the domain extension to be “closed” — meaning the public can’t sign up to register .amazon domain names (unlike some others that were created as part of the same movement to add more domain extensions such as .store).
• In a previous round of negotiations, Amazon offered $5 million in products and services to the ACTO, but appears to have since dropped that offer.