An ICANN Crusade Over .Kosher and .Halal

Some of you might recognize that this Kat has a keen interest in the gTLDs that has led her to write on this topic on previous occasions (e.g. here and here).  During the month of September, this Kat has been, and will be, offline on various days in observance of a series of Jewish holidays that occur during the Fall season.  But, alas, even these days of rest, personal reflection and observance have failed to keep this Kat from thinking about gTLDs, especially because the latest controversy to reach her attention is related to gTLDs encompassing religious terminology. 

Even the Jewish New Year can't
keep IP Kat from pondering gTLDs.

According to this July 18 Bloomberg article, a dispute has been raised over the application for .kosher by Kosher Marketing Associates (KMA), a unit of OK Kosher Certification.  OK Kosher Certification is only one of several organizations that provide kosher certification for food products and ingredients, and upon learning of KMA’s application with ICANN for .kosher, five competing organizations opposed the KMA application.  A representative of OU Kosher, the world’s largest kosher certification organization, explained, 

“[w]e think that if the term ‘kosher,’ which has important meaning in the Jewish religion, is commercialized, it will do a disservice to how religion in general should be treated and will harm the kosher public specifically.”

In response, KMA proclaimed that it did not plan to leverage the domain unilaterally or exclusively, but that they would work with the competing groups, including OU.  However, a meeting between the various agencies failed to result in a cooperation agreement.

Wondering how important control over .kosher would be?  Despite the fact that Jews who observe the traditions of kashrut, consuming only those products certified as kosher, are a minority in the US, the revenues generated by the sale of kosher products are estimated to be about $17 Billion.  As such, an entity that controls the .kosher gTLD would have a big advantage over its competitors vying for the same consumers by promoting the .kosher domain as the one-stop resource for all things kosher.  [This assumes that these gTLDs actually gain traction with consumers who are used to finding their favorite brands on .com, .net, .co.uk, and other more traditional TLDs.]


Similarly, controversy surrounds the application by a single, private organization for the .Halal TLD.  Halal refers to permissiveness under the Muslim faith, especially in connection with certain types of food or food preparations.  The applicant, listed as Asia Green IT System Bilgisayar San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti, apparently has the support of the Islamic Republic of Iran, according to its application on file with ICANN.  However, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and India have each filed oppositions to the application, and their oppositions are being considered by the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) of ICANN.  

As this Kat has commented before, there are so many gTLDs for which multiple parties are vying for control that the only fair way to assign them would be on a first-to-file basis or by auction, unless the applications raise issues concerning established trade marks or geographical indications of origin (though don't get this Kat started on disputes related to GIs... just read the comments to her prior post on this issue to see how it makes her head spin).  [Merpel notes that another method of tie breaking could be to withhold assignment of disputed gTLDs, but that would leave quite a few of them off the table.] 

Still, this Kat wonders whether the GAC will apply the same logic to both the .kosher and the .halal disputes.  Or will .halal receive special consideration because the opponents are sovereign nations rather than private, albeit religious, companies (as in the case of .kosher)?  Would any readers case to make a prediction?