The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will be offering a full refund of the US$185,000 application fee back to companies and individuals that were affected by a recent a software glitch found in its TLD Application System (TAS). "In recognition of the inconvenience caused by the temporary suspension of the TLD application system, ICANN will provide a full refund of the application fees paid by any new gTLD applicant that wishes to withdraw its application prior to publication of the list of applied-for new top-level domain names," the organization anounced.

A resolution authorizing full refunds was adopted during an ICANN Board of Directors workshop in Amsterdam on Sunday, 6 May 2012.

"We recognize that this represents an increase of only US $5000 over the refund that withdrawing applicants would otherwise receive, but we believe it is an important part of fulfilling our commitment to treat applicants fairly," ICANN added.

The sofware glitch meant some applicants could view other applicant's file names under certain circumstances.

TLD applications were originally meant to close on 12 April with the big reveal of which companies had applied for TLD names slated for 1 May 2012 in Australia. However, the software glitch has caused ICANN to delay the announcements.

"We regret the difficulties that we know the temporary suspension of TAS is causing," ICANN added.