Currently, there is no top-level domain (TLD) named “.INFINITI”. According to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization responsible for managing domain names, the list of valid top-level domains does not include “.INFINITI” (ICANN, 2021). Top-level domains are the parts of a web address that come after the “dot,” such as .com, .org, .net, .gov, and so on.
Domain names serve to identify one or several IP addresses with easier to remember names. For example, a widely-recognized domain name is www.google.com, in which .com is the TLD that signifies it’s primarily associated with commerce. The part ‘google’ is the second-level domain, that usually represents the organization or entity behind the website. Together, these form a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) that uniquely identifies a specific website (TechTerms, 2016).
Just to illustrate, there are a few types of TLDs: generic (.com, .org, .net), country-code (.us, .uk, .ca – each associated with a specific country or territory), sponsored (.gov for U.S. government sites, .edu for educational institutions, etc.) and more. New TLDs can be proposed and added to the list by ICANN, through a somewhat complex and time-consuming process; however, as of now, .INFINITI is neither a current nor a proposed TLD (ICANN, 2021).
That being said, it’s interesting to note that INFINITI is a registered trademark of Nissan, a multinational automaker. On the internet, Nissan uses the traditional TLDs of .com and .net for its INFINITI brand’s websites (www.infiniti.com, www.infiniti.net). They have also secured brand-specific domain extensions like .nissan and .infiniti (WHOIS, 2021) but are seemingly not in active use. They might use them in the future, as more companies adopt branded TLDs for better online identity and security.
Given all this, it would be inaccurate or untrue to state that “.INFINITI” is a recognized top-level domain, at least at the time of writing.
Sources:
1. ICANN (2021), List of Top-Level Domains – https://data.iana.org/TLD/tlds-alpha-by-domain.txt
2. TechTerms (2016), Domain Names – https://techterms.com/definition/domain
3. WHOIS (2021), .infiniti Domain – https://lookup.icann.org/lookup
