The “.vin” (.wine in English) extension will soon be open for registration. As such, it is necessary to examine what advantages have been gained so far by those involved in the wine industry.
This extension, like its English equivalent, will certainly improve trademark internet ranking, since the trademark will be associated with its type of business as indicated by the domain name. Similarly, registration of the trademark with the TMCH will enable a person to receive direct notification should a third-party try to register the trademark name.
The new .wine extension is reminiscent of the era when the .com extension came on stream: the immediate impact of the extension remains unclear, but its potential can already be felt. To date, different extensions have been classified on the internet by territory (.fr for France, .eu for Europe, .cn for China etc.) or by area of interest (.biz, .info, .net etc.); thus it is possible that, in the long run, the benefits of these new gTLDs will come from a classification according to the type of business or product, echoing the changes occurring in the internet world.
Depending on a company’s specific internet communication strategy, the question that needs to be asked is whether or not registering these new extensions can bring real benefits.