Canon wants the .canon domain

Canon has applied to ICANN for its own top-level domain, .canon. If approved, the domain could begin operating and registering names as early as 2011.

The opening of a top-level domain to an individual company became possible after organizational changes at ICANN in 2008, which resulted in a more tolerant policy regarding innovation. An example of this democratic policy was the start of registering domains in Cyrillic and other non-Latin scripts.

Furthermore, in June 2008, ICANN introduced new rules for registering generic top-level domains (gTLDs). These rules significantly simplify the process of registering new gTLDs. Under these rules, a company name, trademark, or geographic region can be used as a top-level domain name.