Issue 175 - 7th January

.in currently in Sunrise

Holders of registered Indian trademarks (or service marks) can apply now for domain names corresponding to their trademark, under the following suffixes:

.in 
.co.in 
.net.in 
.org.in 
.gen.in 
.firm.in 
.ind.in

NetNames Platinum Service customers should contact their account manager now, as applications must be received by 14th January.

The registry will open up the above suffixes to all comers on 16th February. Non-trademark holders wishing to submit pre-registrations can do so now at  www.netnames.com.

With .in in Sunrise, and .cn IDNs coming on 17th January, the start of 2005 brings some important developments in the domain name industry.

OFT takes action against domain name seller

Adam Ripley has promised the High Court that he will cease his dubious domain-selling practices after the UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) took court action against him. Swansea-based Mr Ripley, who was behind a number of operations including Solus Online Ltd, Select Registrations and European Domain Bureau, would approach businesses claiming that someone was interested in registering a domain name similar to their business name. He would then pressure them to buy the domain from him, claiming that the registration would have to be made immediately. He also offered .uk domains for 10 years, when they can only be registered for a maximum of two years.

My Ripley was not able to prove that an interested third party existed and so the OFT found him to be in breach of The Control of Misleading Advertisement Regulations.