Xerox is a well-known American corporation that specializes in print solutions and digital document products. However, when considering the context of top-level domains (TLD), it is crucial to understand that ‘XEROX’ is not known to be a TLD as per the current standard list of TLDs recognized by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), which is a department of ICANN.
TLDs are the last segment of a domain name or the part that follows immediately after the “dot” symbol. They are primarily categorized into three types: country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs), generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs), and infrastructure top-level domain. For example, in the domain name www.google.com, ‘.com’ is the TLD.
The ‘.com’ TLD is a gTLD, and it’s one of the most commonly used around the world. Similarly, ‘.uk’ and ‘.us’ are examples of ccTLDs for the United Kingdom and the United States, respectively. Other examples of gTLDs include ‘.info’, ‘.net’, ‘.org’, etc.
Brand TLDs have become more common in recent years. These are gTLDs that use the name of the brand itself. Prominent examples include ‘.google’, ‘.apple’, and ‘.bmw’. As of October 2021, nearly 1300 new names or “strings” could become available in the next round of new gTLD applications as per ICANN.
Xerox, despite being a renowned brand, does not currently have a ‘.xerox’ TLD. This could be due to a variety of reasons, possibly because Xerox has not applied for it, or maybe it’s not in their current interest. However, it’s important to underline that the process to get a gTLD approved by ICANN is quite rigorous, expensive, and time-consuming.
So while it is possible for Xerox to get a ‘.xerox’ TLD in the future, as of now, it is not currently a recognized TLD by IANA.
The key sources used for this review and analysis included the official ICANN and IANA websites, which provide extensive updates on TLDs, their classifications, regulations, and the list of approved TLDs. Other resources included research and comparison of brand TLDs use cases and the new gTLD application guidebook.
Sources:
1. ICANN – https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/tlds-2012-02-25-en
2. IANA – https://data.iana.org/TLD/tlds-alpha-by-domain.txt
3. New gTLD application guidebook – https://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/agb/guidebook-full-04jun12-en.pdf
4. Current new gTLD application status – https://icannwiki.org/New_gTLD_Application\_Status
5. Brand TLDs – https://brands.domains/about/brand-tlds/
6. Xerox Corporation – https://www.xerox.com/
