Issue 161 - 6th August 2004

General domain name news

.gr - Greece

Greek .gr second and third-level domains are now available to any foreign entity, without restriction. To register .gr, go to http://www.netnames.com

.ug - Uganda

Registrations of second-level .ug domains have been permitted since 1 August 2004. The Ugandan registry is an 'open registry', meaning that registrations are unrestricted and available on a first-come, first-served basis. In the interests of protecting trademark owners and other existing registrants at the third level, a sunrise period of two years will be offered to existing registrants within which they will be able to register the second level equivalent of their domains for free. For example, the owner of onetwothree.co.ug  will be able to register onetwothree.ug for free. In addition, if the third-level .ug domain has been renewed, then the second-level registration will inherit its 'parent' domain's expiry date.

To register .ug, go to http://www.netnames.com

Internationalised Domain Names

Thai Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) are now available. The Thailand registry is now allowing registrations with Thai characters under .th. This additional service will be provided free of charge for existing .th registrants whose domains were registered before 25 June 2004. .th registrations are restricted to companies registered in Thailand or Thai trademark owners.

Following ICANN's meeting at the end of last month (which attracted more than 700 participants from 50 countries), it has been decided that an advisory body will be set up to examine IDNs and their general use. ICANN president and CEO Paul Twomey said: "Letting people access information and the Internet in natural languages and scripts is one of the most important challenges we face".                                                                                         

New domain name renewal scam

In an official release by Nominet UK, the .uk registry, domain name holders have been warned against a company sending out false invoices. The company, which goes under the name of Domain Registry Services (DRS), is sending out expiry notices to .uk, .com and .org owners and asking for £60 renewal fee, warning that otherwise the domain name will be lost.

DRS is also offering five and ten year registrations at £140 and £270 respectively - regardless of the fact that .uk domains can only be registered for two years at a time.

As ever, be wary of such scams. Renewal notices will come from your chosen registrar or reseller - if in doubt, check the Whois at http://www.netnames.com and if necessary contact the registrar you originally purchased the domain from.

ICANN rules against Google

An ICANN arbitration panel has ruled against Google in their dispute with shopping comparison site Froogles.com. Google claimed that Froogles.com (launched in March 2001) was 'confusingly similar' to their own brand. The judges decided Froogles "creates an entirely new word and conveys an entirely singular meaning from the mark".

Google launched its own shopping site, Froogle.com, in December 2002.

Google has filed 18 domain name disputes with the ICANN panel, over domains such as 'googlesex.com', 'google.biz' and 'googleme.com'. The dispute over Froogles.com is the first one it has lost.