The Argentinian government is seeking to challenge an application to run .patagonia as a generic top level domain name (gTLD), it has been reported.
According to the Register, the national government has been riled by an attempt by Patagonia Inc – a US outdoor clothing maker – to secure the gTLD.
Patagonia is a geographically dramatic region of southern South America, comprising parts of Argentina and Chile.
Argentina’s representative to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ (ICANN) Governmental Advisory Committee, Olga Cavalli, publicly condemned the application.
Speaking in Prague, she said Argentina does not accept the .patagonia request for a closed brand top level domain (TLD).
“The ICANN board must consider that this case of .patagonia should not become a precedent for other brand TLDs capturing names of regions of countries,” Ms. Cavalli argued.
Last month, ICANN announced a full list of 1,930 gTLD applications received during the application window earlier this year.