A software hitch has forced the company which allocates new internet "domains" – such as .com – to extend the deadline of the biggest shakeup of online naming in the internet's history, just hours before it was due to close.
Companies had been staking up to $185,000 a time to bid for the rights to control their own domains, such as ".camera", ".london" or ".adult", using software run by Icann, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which allocates blocks of internet addresses and decides when to allow new global domains to be created.
But in a statement Icann said that the "TLD Application Software" (TAS) which accepts registration applications suffered a "technical issue". It did not specify what the issue was but said that it showed "unusual behaviour" and that it had shut it down "to protect all applicants and allow adequate time to resolve the issue".
Icann told the Guardian that "this was not a cyber-attack of any type" and that no application data had been lost.
Bidding for the entirely new group of "global top level domains" (gTLDs) opened on 11 January and was meant to close at midnight on Thursday. Anyone willing to pay a processing fee of $185,000 (£119,500) could apply to run their own TLD – such as ".apple" or ".microsoft" or ".london" – and would be able to decide who could create a website or internet address within that space, and charge registry fees.
Icann has said that it would not announce which gTLDs have been applied for until 30 April.
Now it has said that rather than closing the bidding, it will reopen at 23.59 GMT on Tuesday for three days, and finally close on Friday 20 April at 23.59 GMT. "The deadline is being extended to give applicants the time they would have had if we had not shut down the application system to allow for the diagnoses, any possible repair and subsequent testing of the system.
David Taylor from the solicitors Hogan Lovells commented: "The launch of new gTLDs is likely to cause an unprecedented shakeup to the domain name system and the internet in 2013 and onward. Whilst the aim is to enhance diversity, choice, competition and innovation, it will inevitably cause a considerable burden on rights owners across the globe, who will need to carefully reconsider their online strategies. Along with the threat to business and brands there has nevertheless been a significant opportunity for brands to apply themselves during the window that has just closed. It will be very interesting to see how many and who has applied when the list is published and we can expect some significant disputes."
Some companies have already shown their hand – although others will have wanted to keep any bids secret so that they do not have to get into a bidding war with anyone else who wants the same extension. The Florida company ICM Registry that brought the ".xxx" domain to the internet said on Thursday that it has applied for three more adult-themed domains: ".sex," ''.porn" and ".adult". It is not known yet whether others will have applied for the same.
ICM launched its ".xxx" domain in December 2011 and says it now has 215,000 sites registered in it.