.inc

Overview

• .inc is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) in the Domain Name System (DNS).
• The string is positioned for corporate use — shorthand for "incorporated" — and has been associated with business and corporation-focused registrations.
• The TLD is operated by Intercap Registry Inc., a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands. The registry's public site is https://get.inc/.
• DNSSEC is enabled for .inc.

History

• .inc is delegated in the DNS root (IANA delegation record exists) and is an active gTLD.
• The registry operator is Intercap Registry Inc.; an ICANN registry agreement exists for the string.
• Registrations were reported open in coverage dated March 27, 2019.
• As of June 2020 there were 3,605 registered .inc domains (ntldstats listing).

Usage and Audience

• Primary audience: incorporated businesses and corporations (entities that identify with the "Inc." designation).
• During the application phase several applicants positioned the string for corporate use and proposed restrictions to align registrations with legally incorporated entities.

Registration Rules

• During the gTLD application phase, some applicants (for example Dot Registry LLC) planned to restrict .inc registrations to legally registered corporations in the United States.
• The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) signaled it would object to applications that did not restrict corporate-themed strings to entities properly registered with state agencies (or equivalents).
• A community applicant (Dot Registry LLC) attempted to obtain community priority but did not pass the Community Priority Evaluation (see Notable Cases). Publicly available summaries in the application phase describe contention among multiple applicants and proposed restriction models; specific day-to-day registration policy details as operated by the current registry are not detailed in the provided sources.

Notable Cases or Examples

• Multiple applicants competed for the .inc string in ICANN's New gTLD Program, including: Dot Registry LLC, Top Level Domain Holdings (TLDH), STRAAT Investments (NU DOT CO LLC), Uniregistry Corp., Google (Charleston Road Registry Inc.), GMO Registry, GTLD Limited, Donuts, and Afilias.
• Several applicants withdrew from the contention set during the application process (notably CNI Registry, LLC and C.V. TLDcare).
• In June 2014 a Community Priority Evaluation (CPE) panel awarded Dot Registry LLC 5 out of 16 possible points (below the 14-point threshold), so its community application did not prevail and the contention had to be resolved by other means (private or ICANN auction).
• The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) publicly expressed concerns about corporate-themed gTLDs (.inc, .llc, .corp, .llp) and indicated it would object unless appropriate registration restrictions were applied.
• Top Level Domain Holdings announced a funding arrangement (reported February 26, 2013) to support auction scenarios for contested gTLDs; this was part of the wider contention context around strings like .inc.

% IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       INC

organisation: Intercap Registry Inc.
address:      4th Floor, Harbour Place, 103 South Church Street
address:      PO Box 10240
address:      Grand Cayman KY1-1002
address:      Cayman Islands (the)

contact:      administrative
name:         General Manager
organisation: Intercap Registry Inc.
address:      4th Floor, Harbour Place, 103 South Church Street
address:      PO Box 10240
address:      Grand Cayman KY1-1002
address:      Cayman Islands (the)
phone:        +1-833-436-8462
e-mail:       admin@intercap.inc

contact:      technical
name:         CTO
organisation: CentralNic
address:      Saddlers House, 4th Floor
address:      44 Gutter Lane
address:      London EC2V 6BR
address:      United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the)
phone:        +44 20 33 88 0600
fax-no:       +44 20 33 88 0601
e-mail:       tld.ops@centralnic.com

nserver:      A.NIC.INC 194.169.218.137 2001:67c:13cc:0:0:0:1:137
nserver:      B.NIC.INC 185.24.64.137 2a04:2b00:13cc:0:0:0:1:137
nserver:      C.NIC.INC 212.18.248.137 2a04:2b00:13ee:0:0:0:0:137
nserver:      D.NIC.INC 212.18.249.137 2a04:2b00:13ff:0:0:0:0:137
ds-rdata:     18077 8 2 42f81b888d9b44d561060b7dc32796807f2a99f2d151b3837019aba31c8966a0
ds-rdata:     13114 8 2 8ef8eca3d31fc473c78b0cf4641bd536920e064d500f3a01ac96405cf5f8edcb

whois:        whois.nic.inc

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: https://get.inc

created:      2018-07-03
changed:      2023-11-17
source:       IANA