Typosquatting Monitoring Service
As part of NetNames Platinum Service’s continued commitment to
protect customers’ online corporate identity, NetNames is pleased to
announce a new service to help identify potential "typosquatting"
threats.
“Typosquatting” relies on common mistakes made when inputting a
web address into a browser. Mistakes might take the form of common
misspellings (nentames.com) or keystroke errors (ne3tnames.com).
Should a user accidentally enter an incorrect website address, they
could be led to an alternative address owned by a third party.
Historically, these types of names tended to be registered by
professional cybersquatters. However, given the huge growth in
pay-per-click advertising, there has been a massive rise in the
registration of such domains by third parties aiming to profit
directly from your brands. These pages often contain links to
competitor products or services, representing a genuine risk of
revenue loss through the diversion of potential customers away from
your site.
In response to this, NetNames has developed unique auditing tools
to generate common misspellings of a chosen keyword and then search
for both active domain registrations, as well as unregistered
variations. Once these names have been identified, a client can
choose to take advantage of NetNames Platinum Service's secondary
market options such as Domain Watching and Backordering, Defensive
Registration and anonymous Domain Acquisition. These services are
all intended to offer alternative options to more expensive
resolution processes such as UDRP.
If you are Platinum Service client and wish to take advantage of
the new Typosquatting Monitoring Service, please contact your
account manager. Alternatively, for more information simply email
typosquatting@netnames.com.
Domain Name Update - .kr, .tr and .hk
.kr (Korea) liberalisation
Phase 2 of the liberalisation of .kr at the second level
commenced on 21 November 2006. Until 27 March 2007, owners of
third-level domains registered prior to 13 March 2006 will be able
to apply for the equivalent second-level domain using all English
characters.
Platinum Service clients wishing to register .kr should contact
their account manager. All other clients should visit
www.netnames.com.
.tr (Turkey) IDNs
Turkish Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) using Turkish
characters will become available to register from 4 December 2006,
initially only to those who already own .tr domains. Until 4 March
2007, existing registrants of third-level .tr domains (e.g. .com.tr,
.gen.tr) will have priority in being able to apply for the Turkish
equivalent of their ASCII (English character) domain. After that,
registration will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Platinum Service clients interested in registering .tr IDNs
should contact their account manager. All other clients should visit
www.netnames.com.
.hk (Hong Kong) CDNs
From 4 December 2006 until 5 January 2007, existing registrants of
English-character .hk domains (registered prior to 15 September
2006) will be able to apply for the equivalent Chinese-character
Chinese Domain Names (CDNs). A restricted Sunrise period will follow
on 29 January, which will be open to all members of the public. Open
first-come, first-served registration will begin 8 March 2007.
In order to register .hk CDNs, please contact your account
manager, or visit
www.netnames.com.
.ie (Ireland) Internet Register scam
We have been informed by our friends at the .ie Domain Registry (IEDR)
of a slightly unusual scam which registrants of .ie need to be aware
of. A German-based company calling itself the “Internet Register
Ireland” is contacting registrants by post and fax, encouraging them
to register their domain on their database for a fee of €958.
This company is not authorised to act on behalf of the IEDR and
those who have been approached by Internet Register Ireland are
advised to ignore them.
.mobi RFP
The next round of .mobi Premium domain sales is open and is being
run as a Request for Proposal (RFP) process. The four domains being
offered are:
news.mobi
ringtones.mobi
sports.mobi
weather.mobi
The application form can be found at
http://pc.mtld.mobi/documents/PNameRFP_FINALVERSION.pdf.
Please note that applications must arrive at the .mobi Registry
by 18 December 2006 and there is a non-refundable
application fee of €500. Winning proposals will be announced on 19
January 2007. Successful applicants will be given a registration
code which will be used to register the domain through an accredited
registrar such as NetNames.
.cym proposed for Wales
Members of the Welsh Assembly are campaigning for their very own
.cym Top Level Domain (TLD), in order to promote the use of the
Welsh language on the web. .cym, if approved by ICANN, would be the
second TLD representing a particular language and culture, the first
being .cat (Catalan), which was introduced earlier this year.
©
Copyright NetNames 2006. All rights reserved.
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