sponsored top level domain (sTLD)

Sponsored Top Level Domains (sTLD) belong to the generic TLDs, which also include the unsponsored TLDs, the Unsponsored Top Level Domain (uTLD).

There are already various sponsored TLDs, such as *.pro for special professional groups, *.edu for educational institutions, *.aero for the air transport industry or *.mil for the military of the United States of America.

Sponsored top level domains are awarded to companies and global organizations and can be applied for at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers( ICANN). They are relatively expensive, both in terms of application and annual fees. For example, sponsored corporate TLDs might include the company name and be named *.ebay, *.nokia or *.vw.

The sponsored TLDs are under the control of the owners, they are not obliged to make the domains available to other interests for their use. In addition, this eliminates the possibility of phishing as much as possible.