(Yicai) Sept. 4 -- Alibaba Group Holding has filed multiple complaints against ".ai" domains tied to its various businesses, joining Tencent Holdings, Google, and other tech giants in such legal pursuits amid a reevaluation of these domains' role in global brand management.

Taobao.ai, qwenchat.ai, alibaba.ai, and other .ai domains have entered dispute proceedings and were ultimately transferred to Alibaba-related entities, according to information from the Czech Arbitration Court. However, the Hangzhou-based company's application for 1688.ai was rejected because the holder submitted AI development materials created shortly after registration and a pre-dispute artificial general intelligence webpage, among other evidence.

Tencent and Google have also taken similar actions to complete their .ai domain portfolios. In recent years, leading global tech companies have found that others have already registered many domains that might be associated with their businesses, so reclaiming them has become a growing focus.

AI products have emerged en masse over the past two years, but many companies did not cache corresponding domains in advance and found that others already held them after products became popular, Wei Bin, a lawyer at Beijing-based Longan Law Firm, told Yicai. As a result, disputes over .ai and "model name + AI" domains have significantly increased, Wei noted.

The key point of contention between domain holders and tech giants is the legitimacy of the registration act itself, Wei pointed out. If holders can prove they registered the domain based on generic words, numerical meanings, or independent projects, and have genuine development materials, then even if they later offer it for sale publicly, this does not automatically constitute bad faith, Wei said.

However, if they contact the company immediately after registration and demand a high price, or if the domain exactly matches a newly launched product, such actions may become evidence of cybersquatting, Wei stressed.

.AI Domains' Soaring Prices

The domain .ai is the country code top-level domain for Anguilla, a tiny island nation in the Caribbean. However, it transcended its geographic meaning after the rise of AI. According to data from the International Monetary Fund, .ai registrations stood at 144,000 when ChatGPT was released at the end of 2022, but the figure exceeded one million by early January this year.

In 2023, the Anguilla government earned tens of millions of US dollars in revenue from .ai domains.

Registering a .ai domain is still not too expensive, with a one-year registration costing USD75 on Tencent Cloud's website. In comparison, a .com domain, labeled on the site as "the world's most popular domain," costs just USD12.99 per year.

Some special AI domains have generated considerable commercial value. Wisdom.ai was sold for USD750,000 last year, while Bot.ai was sold for USD1.2 million through the domain trading platform Sedo this year, according to statistics from domain trading tracker DNJournal.

Brand Representation

Once-overlooked .ai domains have entered the scope of tech giants' brand protection amid further AI development and the accelerating global expansion of relevant businesses.

.ai domains are evolving from simple web addresses into branding tools for AI products, Wei said, noting that they not only help with user access, product promotion, and global brand recognition, but also help prevent counterfeiting, phishing, and traffic confusion.

Unlike the e-commerce industry, which previously needed substantial time to cultivate markets and build logistics infrastructure, the global rollout of tech giants' AI products is accelerating, with many launching overseas shortly after their domestic debut. In addition, the battle over .ai domains for traditional businesses such as taobao.ai shows that companies are leaving more room for related AI transformation and overseas expansion.

The competition for .ai is not merely a round of domain speculation, but shows the accelerating globalization of AI products and presents a new branding challenge for companies going global.

Editor: Martin Kadiev