National Restaurant Association Registers Opposition To New Internet Domain Name Plan

In a statement for the record for today's Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation hearing, "ICANN's Expansion of Top-Level Domains," the National Restaurant Association's Scott DeFife, Executive Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs, registered restaurant industry opposition to the new Internet domain name plan and called on Congress and the U.S. Department of Commerce to reassess the program before its unveiling in January 2012:

"The National Restaurant Association appreciates the opportunity to register the U.S. restaurant industry's strong opposition to the January 2012 roll-out of the new generic top-level domain (gTLD) program approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in June 2011.

"The Association is the leading business association for the restaurant and foodservice industry. Our industry is comprised of 960,000 restaurant and foodservice locations. These nearly 1 million restaurant locations serve more than 130 million Americans every day. Our members include multi-state, multi-unit restaurant brands with thousands of locations worldwide and small independent businesses with a single location.

"The restaurant industry plays a significant role in our nation's economy. Restaurants will generate an estimated $604 billion in sales this year, with an overall economic impact of more than $1.7 trillion. The restaurant industry is one of the nation's largest private-sector job creators, employing about 12.8 million people, representing nearly 10 percent of the U.S. workforce.

"The Association joins more than 100 other major business associations and companies in the Coalition for Responsible Internet Domain Oversight (CRIDO) in urging the Department of Commerce to stop or delay ICANN's new gTLD program. We were part of CRIDO's petition to U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary John Bryson in November urging the Department to work with ICANN on delaying and reconsidering the program.

"We believe ICANN's gTLD program would impose billions of dollars in unnecessary costs on the restaurant industry at a time when restaurant operators are looking forward to investing in their businesses and hiring employees after the worst recession in decades. Profit margins in restaurants are notoriously slim, with restaurants averaging about 4 percent in pre-tax profits on every dollar in sales. The ICANN program will divert scarce restaurant resources away from job-creating, business-building activities. These are dollars far better spent reinvesting in our businesses.

"If ICANN proceeds as planned, the organization will start accepting applications next month for hundreds and ultimately thousands of new top-level domains. Restaurants of all sizes will be forced to apply for new domains to protect their brands and trademarks. Costs include a $185,000 application fee for each new top-level domain. Restaurants and other companies also likely would be forced to register numerous second-level domains -- the words to the left of the 'dot' in Internet addresses -- within the new top-level domains. Costs would be driven higher by legal, marketing and other costs. Some businesses have put the cost of registering a single top-level domain at $2 million or more over the initial 10-year contract as companies submit applications, watch and defend their domains, monitor for infringement and litigate to block abuse. Costs could run higher if businesses are forced to buy their own Internet names in auctions.

"The Internet is increasingly central to restaurateurs' efforts to attract guests and grow their businesses. This is true for both major restaurant brands and independent restaurants. Association research shows that Americans i