I found that one individual had applied for 300 gTLDs, Google for 98 including for .lol and .foo. In reality, each company could have used just one gTLD such as .google and could have extended it having app.google domains. To Dave's point, these domains are not necessary open for the public. If google wins, .dad, they don't have to give you a domain in that gTLD.
Many TLDs already have restrictions, and are not 100% "open for the public". There's been controversy about whether .job is enforcing its restrictions correctly; .edu is strictly limited to US accredited 4-year secondary educational institutions; .gov and .mil are "owned" by the US government; many ccTLDs have restrictions, for example .cn at times has required registrants to have a business license in China, etc.
I take your point fully. Just musing on the country codes being appended to the same words as the new top level domains, just to create more confusion.
In the UK some smaller private colleges that are not eligible for .ac.uk register web sites with the .ac country code.
My understanding is that books.uk is just a second level domain. It would have to be Nominet who questioned the application, and there are countries that appear to take a liberal view of the use of their country code. Have I misunderstood?
