Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

That’s just for those who apply. But even those who don’t apply will have to track the process closely, so they can object if a proposed vanity TLD copies a trademark. ICANN says it plans to designate an outside organization to resolve trademark issues, but not until after the registration process has already begun.

And despite ICANN’s assurances, those cases are likely to end up in court if a retailer’s brand is grabbed by someone else. Retailer branding is already a mess—remember, today there are two grocery chains named Albertsons in the U.S. using exactly the same logo. Which one gets the vanity TLD? Would either one want it?

That’s the larger problem for retailers: It’s not clear that any retailers want these new domain names. But ICANN’s secret application process could force them into applying, even if there’s no benefit, just to protect their brands.

Because the applications will be kept secret until April 12, 2012, when the window for applying has closed, there’s no way to know whether it’s worth anteing up just for brand protection. In fact, ICANN says it expects multiple applicants for some new TLDs—they’ll just have to fight it out through the multiple challenge and resolution procedures that ICANN plans to set up.

ICANN won’t say if there will be another opportunity for getting vanity TLDs, soon or ever. The organization does say that if more than 500 applications are received, they’ll have to be handled in batches—but there’s no way of knowing whether a retailer’s application will be delayed or on what basis.

And although there’s plenty of potential downside if a retailer’s brand is hijacked, it’s not clear that there’s much advantage to retailers in a vanity TLD. Not surprisingly, advertising and marketing agencies think vanity TLDs are a great branding opportunity. For example, one marketing consultant has suggested the new TLDs could make possible whole collections of E-Commerce sites such as BackToSchool.Target, BackToSchool.Gap and BackToSchool.JCP.

But retailers could easily make all those domain names work right now if they want to by adding a .com on the end—and without the extra expense of buying a six-figure TLD and operating their own registry to manage it. (Maybe it’s not such a great idea to get Internet branding advice from people who aren’t clear on how the Internet works.)

Whether there’s a benefit to retailers or not, someone is guaranteed to make lots of money from vanity TLDs if they go through. It just won’t be anyone in retail.