Battle for world's best internet addresses hit by IT error The Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which regulates the world's internet addresses, has spent most of the past year urging companies to apply for new domain names, after it controversially agreed to relax the rules. Until now, ICANN has only allowed 22 "top-level" domains, such as .com or .net, and 252 country-level names such as .uk and .ie. The new rules will permit hundreds of words, including brand names such as .google and .pepsi or generic words like .flowers or .pizza. However, ICANN said on Thursday it would extend the deadline until April 20 because of "unusual behaviour with the operation of the [application] system," caused by a "technical issue." "ICANN is taking the most conservative approach possible to protect all applicants and allow adequate time to resolve the issue," it said in a statement. Companies must complete more than 300 pages of forms and pay $185,000 (£114,000) to apply for one of the new names, regardless of whether they are successful.