From 12 January, brands will be able to apply to acquire and manage their own top-level domains, allowing the brand names to feature on the right side of the dot in web addresses.

This is a game for the big players as the application fee alone is $185,000, (over £100,000).

“This will be a top-down issue at first,” says Vikki Chowney, news editor at Econsultancy.

“For larger organisations, it's a case of reaffirming ownership of your own brand and making sure you have first-mover advantage over those with similar names. The reputation management angle is what the majority of brands will act on, even though it's probably not appropriate to use dot brand domains straight away. People are used to .com. It'll be a long time before people get their heads around dot brand.”

Organisations that have expressed fears of domain squatting need not be concerned as the application process will ensure that domain names are only granted to genuine brand owners.

However, Chowney cautions that brands not intending to apply should still pay attention to the scene. “There's then always the worry that two similar company names might argue over the same dot brand, and if permission has been granted to one, it could be expensive and lengthy to fight.”

The window for businesses to apply to Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers  (ICANN) for a generic top-level domain (gTLD) name is open until 12 April 2012.

Afilias, the domain name registry operations company behind .info, .mobi, and other TLDs encourages brands to apply as early as possible given the limited timeframe.

“The launch of dot brand is an exciting time in the history of the Internet’’ says Roland LaPlante, Afilias CMO.

“However, given the short window for applying, plus the comprehensive and technical nature of the application process, businesses need to consider their applications as early as possible. Experienced providers like Afilias are available to assist interested companies with their applications and to make a smooth transition to dot brand”.