ICANN has just released its latest Economic Study on new TLDs.This report is the phase two of the independent economic analysis.
In this new study,Greg Rosston from Stanford University and Michael Katz from the University of California Berkeley, with the cooperation of Compass Lexecon and its Theresa Sullivan revealed a taxonomy of gTLD types,potential benefits of new gTLDs,potential costs of new gTLDs results from empirical research on the domain names associated with top international brands, and a high-level summary of the empirical findings of their overall analysis .
"First, the costs and benefits of introducing a new gTLD can vary considerably depending on the policies and procedures adopted by the registry operator as well as the nature of the gTLD itself (e.g., whether it is a trademarked name). Hence, depending on these factors, the benefits of introducing a particular gTLD may be positive or negative.",says the report.
other findings are : "Section V presents results from empirical research on the domain names associated with top international brands. We find that there is: (a) a significantly lower rate of registration by these brands outside of .com, and (b) a lower rate of registration for less valuable brands than for the most valuable brands. Based on this research, it appears that brand owners expend less effort to protect their brandson less popular gTLDS,which is the pattern one would expect if there companies suffer lower costs from infringing activities."
You can find the report here . http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/phase-two-economic-considerations-03dec10-en.pdf