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Comment by pavpanchekha | Hacker News Reader

I wonder what the process for getting a new one approved would look like. For example, would Google be able to say, hey, we've got a large online presence, can we have the "google" gTLD?

If not, we have problems like it being possible to continuously create new TLDs and domain-squat on google.whatever or such.

If so, well, that's interesting, I actually can't wait for Google's url to be http://google. Maybe one day even //google.

Good times, good times.

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From http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/factsheet-new-gtld-...

> How much is the evaluation fee?

The evaluation fee is estimated at US$185,000. Applicants will be required to pay a US$5,000 deposit fee per requested application slot when registering. The US$5,000 will be credited against the evaluation fee

> Are there any additional costs I should be aware of in applying for a new gTLD?

Yes. Applicants may be required to pay additional fees in certain cases where specialized process steps are applicable, and should expect to account for their own business startup costs. See Section 1.5.2 of the Applicant Guidebook.

And the guidebook (http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/rfp-clean-30may11-e...) mentions a number of different fees.

I was trying to determine: what portion of that, if any, is refundable should an application be turned down?

If you withdraw after the 1st phase of the application (application submitted and all applicants are visibile for that TLD) then you are entitled to 70% refund, the second phase (once all eligible applicants have withstood the examination process and survived contention) 30%, when the bidding starts - nada.

Somehow I suspect the process will involve forking a bunch of money over to ICANN.

You mean I can't get one for $7/year on GoDaddy?

Just wait. They'll sell the first few for hundreds of thousands (millions?) of dollars to Google, Pepsi, and Sony, and in 10 years they'll be on GoDaddy fo $20.

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