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NIC
News ..
The
liberalisation of .be
As of 11 December
2000, the registration of domain names with the Belgian country-code
top level domain will be greatly simplified. The following new
regulations will now give anyone the opportunity to own a .be
domain name regardless of where they are located:
- Association
between the company name and the domain name is no
 longer required
- Generic domain names are now acceptable
- Domain registration is available to individuals as well as companies
- Multiple domain names are now permitted
- Domain registration will only be possible through an accredited
registrar. However
NetNames are now authorised to process registrations,
so you won't
have to look very far!
Andorran
Domain Names and Trademarks
A local presence is no longer required in order to obtain a .ad
domain name. Although applicants do have to obtain an Andorran
trademark before an identical domain name can be registered, the
good news is that NetNames can now offer customers the complete
.ad domain name and trademark package.
Industry
Update ...
David v.
Goliath
Lawyers acting for fashion house Ralph Lauren have threatened
legal action against UK-based Woldingham Saddlery & Harness Centre
objecting to the company's use of the po-lo.com domain name. The
fashion giant, which owns the polo.com name, has demanded that
the equestrian centre give up its name, accusing it of cybersquatting.
Meanwhile the centre, which also owns domain names such as chukkas.com
and onthetrot.com, has sought legal counsel and been advised that
has a solid case with several precedents involved. It is therefore
planning to defend itself.
French
court rules against eBay
US auction giant eBay is involved in a lawsuit against French
company Forum On The Net, which has registered the domain name
ebay.fr. eBay says it is entitled to the name, however the French
courts have now ruled twice in favour of Forum On The Net. As
a result, eBay has been forced to launch its French operation
under a different name, www.ebayfrance.com. These rulings may
fly in the face of conventional cybersquatting cases, however
French copyright law permits non-competing companies to share
trade names. The decision has angered many Internet companies
who see the judgement as having dire consequences to for international
copyright protection, however eBay is appealing against the decision
for a second time and the case is set to drag on for several more
months to come.
Study finds
bias in Internet domain name dispute resolution
A study by researchers at Syracuse University in the US has revealed
that the international method of resolving disputes over Internet
domain names favours trademark holders and celebrities. WIPO,
the World Intellectual Property Organization, which in November
controlled 68.5% of the domain name dispute market, ruled in favour
of big business or celebrities in 67.5% of cases. Whilst the researchers
acknowledge that the guidelines developed by ICANN are 'robust
and fair', both their interpretation and a clause enabling trademark
holders to shop around for the most favourable arbitrators has
resulted in a system that is biased against 'ordinary' Internet
domain name registrants, according to the study.
NetNames
News ...
NetNames is
the only UK registrar within Afilias, the international consortium
chosen to run the .info registry. The .info suffix is set to end
the artificial domain name 'scarcity' which has existed with the
.com domain name. It will also be the first truly global suffix,
as .com has traditionally been perceived as being US-centric.
The .info suffix is the only new suffix announced by ICANN which
will be unrestricted. The other six suffixes will all require
potential registrants to prove their status before registration
can be approved. All seven new domain suffixes will be available
from the middle of next year and registration for all will be
provided by NetNames. N3 lite will keep you informed of all developments
within this area.
Fact
of the Week ...
How
Many Online?
The art of
estimating how many are online throughout the world is an inexact
one at best. Surveys abound, using all sorts of measurement parameters.
However, from observing many of the published surveys over the
last two years, here is an "educated guess" as to how many are
online worldwide as of September 2000. And the number is 377.65
million.
| World
Total |
377.65
million |
| Africa
|
3.11
million |
| Asia/Pacific |
89.68
million |
| Europe
|
105.89
million |
| Middle
East |
2.40
million |
| Canada
& USA |
161.31
million |
| Latin
America |
15.26
million |
Source: Various;
Methodology
Compiled by: Nua Internet Surveys
Tip
of the Week ..
Your
spelling
When registering
your domain name on the Internet, think about how it sounds and
be sure to register any common variations of the spelling in order
to improve your site’s ‘findability’ and to protect it from cybersquatters.
If it’s a two-word domain name, consider registering both hyphenated
and non-hyphenated variations. For example, a company called Red
Socks should consider registering variations such as redsocks,
redsox, red-socks and red-sox etc. It can also be worth registering
your domain name without the full stop between the ‘www’ and your
actual domain name, as this is a frequent error made by web surfers.
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