Amazon is close to winning a 7-year battle with South American countries for the ‘.amazon’ domain

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• Amazon has been locked in a seven-year battle with eight South American countries over its right to use the ".amazon" domain name.
• These countries, united as the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation, argued that Amazon should not have the rights to this name as it is also an important geographic region in their continent.
• The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers sided with Amazon last week over its new terms proposed in April. Its final decision is pending a 30-day public comment period.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Amazon’s near decade-long battle with a group of Latin American countries could be coming to a close.

Last week, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) sided with Amazon in its quest to win the rights to the ".amazon" domain name. The group’s final decision is pending a 30 day public comment period. The Financial Times was first to report the news.

It brings to head a seven-year battle, in which Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela — united as the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation (ACTO) – argued that the retail giant should not have the rights to ".amazon" as it is an important geographic region in Latin America.

This battle has been ongoing since 2012 but ramped up in 2018 after Amazon’s application was taken off the "will not proceed list" by ICANN.

ICAAN said last week that it "remained hopeful that additional time could lead to a mutually acceptable solution regarding those applications. However, ACTO and the Amazon corporation were unable to come to a mutually acceptable solution or agree on an extension of time for continued discussions."

Read more: Amazon and 8 South American countries have been battling over who gets to use the ‘.amazon’ domain for 7 years

Spokespeople at ICANN and Amazon did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment

Under Amazon’s new terms, proposed in April, it said it would not use any domain names "that have a primary and well-recognized significance to the culture and heritage of the Amazonia region," and would block up to 1,500 of these names.

It also said it would provide nine domain names for these members states to use for non-commercial purposes "to enhance the visibility of the region."

According to The Financial Times, Amazon said that ACTO member states will not have the right to veto any specific names as it would give them "authority over global naming decisions for Amazon’s new, not-yet-launched products and services."

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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Mary Hanbury)